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PRESIDENT    HARKER 


MRS.   J     R.    HARKER 


BACCALAUREATE 
ADDRESSES 

Illinois  Woman's    College 
1893-1918 

PRESIDENT  JOSEPH  R.  HARKER 


JACKSONVILLE,  ILLINOIS 
ILLINOIS    WOMAN'S    COLLEGE 


PRESS  OF 

THE  METHODIST   EOOK  CONCERN 

CINCINNATI,   OHIO 


(Co  <iHg  J[0tfe,  tJje  ffiomz  anb  College  ^otljer: 

Wfto,  equally  with  myself,  has  borne  the  burdens  and 
cares,  and  enjoyed  the  happy  privileges  of  our  home 
and  college  life; 

Who,  by  her  patience  and  gentleness,  her  unfailing 
tact  and  sympathy  and  love,  has  made  possible  all 
that  has  been  accomplished  for  the  college  in  these 
twenty-five  years;  and 

Who,  by  her  unwearied  interest  and  personal  affection, 
has  enriched  the  lives  of  both  faculty  and  students, 
and  inspired  us  all  to  express  the  best  within  us, 

tHijts  book  ts  affeciumaielg  bebicateb. 


776837 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

1894 — The  Best  Gifts,  and  the  More  Excellent 

Way, 15 

1895 — The  Rich  Indwelling  of  Christ's  Word,    -  23 

1896 — Getting  Only  in  Order  to  Give,  33 

1897 — You  Cannot  Travel  Life's  Journey  Alone,  41 

1898 — The  Greatest  Reward  of  Faithful  Service 

Is  a  More  Difficult  Task,                  -        -  49 

1899 — Forward  Reaching  for  the  Prize  of  God,  57 

1900 — Whatever  You  Ought  to  Do,  You  Can  Do,  65 

1901 — Your    Candle    Has    Been    Lighted,    Let    It 

Shine, 73 

1902 — Building  According  to  God's  Plan,        -        -  81 

1903 — Yearning  for  Service,         ....  89 

1904 — We  Cannot  be  Our  Own  Masters,          -        -  97 

I9°5 — BE  Ye  Doers,  Not  Learners  Only,     -        -  107 

1906 — The  Victory  That  Overcometh,  Even  Your 

Faith, 117 

1907 — The  Master  Key  of  Life,    -        -        -        -  125 

1908 — The   Baccalaureate  Address   of  John  the 

Baptist, 133 

1909 — The  Things  That  Abide,      ....  143 

5 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

1910 — The    College    Motto:    Knowledge,    Faith, 

Service, 153 

191 1 — The  College  a  Mount  of  Inspiration  and 

Privilege,        - 163 

19 1 2 — God's  Greatest  Workmen  Seldom  Complete 

Their  Tasks, 173 

19 1 3 — Educated  Women — Educated,  But  Still  and 

Always  Women, 183 

1914 — The  Most  Helpful  College  Memories,  -     191 

191 5 — Faithful  Stewards  of  the  Manifold  Grace 

of  God, 201 

1916 — Scholarship,  Efficiency,  Service,  -        -        -  211 

19 1 7 — The  Responsibilities  of  College  Women,  221 

1918— Sermon, 231 

Address  to  Class:    Christ  Jesus  My  Lord,  255 


FOREWORD 

These  addresses  are  printed  at  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  many  alumnae  and  trustees  of  the  college. 
The  author  is  very  sensible  that  they  have  no 
claim  to  literary  merit.  They  were  spoken  to  each 
graduating  class  as  it  went  out,  after  several  years 
of  most  intimate  association  as  president  and 
students,  and  were  intended  to  recall  in  a  few 
words  some  simple  truth  which  had  been  empha- 
sized in  the  chapel  services  of  the  year. 

The  Illinois  Woman's  College  has  been  more 
than  a  college  through  these  years;  it  has  also  been 
a  home.  The  relation  has  been  closer  and  more 
personal  than  the  ordinary  relation  between  presi- 
dent and  student — the  students  have  come  to  be 
more  like  daughters.  The  addresses  are,  therefore, 
simple  heart-to-heart  talks,  the  style  familiar  and 
personal,  and  the  subjects  related  to  life  rather 
than  to  academic  problems.  But  for  this  very 
reason,  perhaps,  they  may  be  of  more  permanent 
interest. 

The  date  and  place  of  each  commencement 
occasion  is  given,  with  the  text,  and  the  names  of 
the  baccalaureate  preacher,  and  the  commence- 
ment speaker.    The  names  of  the  members  of  the 

7 


FOREWORD 

class,  with  their  1918  addresses,  as  far  as  known, 
are  also  given.  It  is  hoped  that  in  this  way,  for 
each  of  the  classes,  the  happy  memories  of  the 
graduating  days  and  friends  may  be  vividly  re- 
called, and  that  the  president's  final  words  may 
frequently  again   bring  pleasure  and   inspiration. 

If  their  publication  shall  help  to  recall  to  the 
more  than  six  hundred  graduates  of  these  happy 
twenty-five  years  of  service  some  of  their  college 
hours  that  were  most  worth  while,  or  help  them 
still  to  meet  life's  duties  with  more  resolution  and 
pleasure;  if  it  shall  contribute  to  the  strengthening 
of  class  and  college  associations,  and  add  to  their 
interest  in  the  continued  advancement  of  the  col- 
lege, it  will  be  worth  while. 

We  trust  the  little  book  will  carry  to  each 
member  of  every  class  a  very  personal  message  of 
love  from  both  Mrs.  Harker  and  myself.  We  love 
them  all  greatly,  and  one  of  our  chief  joys  is  in 
recalling  our  happy  personal  relations  with  them. 
Our  chief  reward  in  these  later  years  will  be  the 
knowledge  of  their  continued  esteem  and  affection 
for  us;  but  especially  of  their  continued  apprecia- 
tion of  the  college,  and  of  their  increasing  purpose 
to  be  loyal  to  it,  and  to  contribute  to  its  adequate 
endowment  and  support. 

April  2,  1918.  Joseph  R.  Harker. 

8 


Baccalaureate   Addresses 


1 894 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  JUNE  3,    1894,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  W.  A.  Smith,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  CENTENARY  CHURCH,  JACKSONVILLE,  ILL. 
Text — Luke  14.  10.     "Go  up  higher." 


COMMEMCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,   JUNE   5,   1 894,    2.3O  P.  M. 


Class  of  1894 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Black,  Effie  (Mrs.  George  E.  Baxter),  820  W.  College  Avenue, 
Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Blackburn,  Etta  (Mrs.  Charles  G.  Steinhart),  Wilmington, 
Illinois. 

*Blackburn,  Martha  L.  (Mrs.  A.  H.  Glasgow). 

Browning,  Jessie  (Mrs.  Clyde  E.  Stone),  1140  Glen  Oak 
Avenue,  Peoria,  Illinois. 

Bruner,  Ethel  V.  (Mrs.  James  C.  Thornburg),  Muskegon, 
Michigan. 

Bruner,  Mabelle  E.  (Mrs.  Harry  Armstrong),  4820  Dorchester 
Avenue,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Cox,  Martha  Luella  (Mrs.  Thomas  H.  Buckthorpe),  R.  R.  6, 
Jacksonville. 

Danely,  Nellie  Cole  (Mrs.  Leonard  Thomas  Mayhew),  5016 
Aldama  Street,  Los  Angeles,  California. 

De  Motte,  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Truman  Carter),  475  Lincoln 
Avenue,  Jacksonville. 

Goodrick,  Ailsie,  2401  West  Ninth  Street,  Los  Angeles,  Cali- 
fornia. 

Gray,  Lillian  (Mrs.  E.  C.  Carpenter),  137  Hardin  Avenue, 
Jacksonville. 

Hamilton,  Ida  Evelyn  (Mrs.  Orvey  Willamson),  Barry, 
Illinois. 

Layman,  Clara  Myrtle  (Mrs.  Clyde  L.  Hay),  6217  Magnolia 
Avenue,  Chicago. 

Lurton,  Lottie  Cole  (Mrs.  Otis  Wesner),  615  East  Forty- 
fourth  Street,  Chicago. 

McKee,  Margaret  V.,  5403  Maryland  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Melton,  Frances  V.,  8  Torii  Baka  Azaba,  Tokio,  Japan. 

Metzler,  Sadie  Catherine  (Mrs.  Ralph  Milton  Riggs),  Win- 
chester, Illinois. 


*Orr,  Maude  (Mrs.  Edgar  Pendleton). 

Rayhill,    Daisy   M.,   232   Westminster  Street,   Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Siebert,   Edna   (Mrs.    Bruce  Thomas),   Oak   Cliffe,   Dallas, 

Texas. 
*Sigler,  Bernice  L. 
Sigler,  Gladys  (Mrs.   Bryant  H.   Henderson),  Sigler  Apts., 

Hot  Springs,  Arkansas. 
Steidley,  Emma  M.  (Mrs.  J.  C.  P.  Tompkins),  R.  R.  2,  Malta, 

Ohio,  "Shadeland  Heights  Farm." 
Wright,    Bessie   Allard    (Mrs.    Thomas    L.    Hodgens),   2309 

North  Twelfth  Street,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 


14 


The  Best  Gifts,  and  the  More  Excellent 
Wa>> 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1894: 

This  is  a  season  to  which  you  have  for  a  long 
time  looked  forward,  toward  which  you  have 
planned  and  labored,  and  by  which  you  have 
measured  time.  It  is  a  turning-point  in  your  life 
history. 

As  the  past  years  have  looked  forward  to  this 
season,  so  the  coming  years  will  look  back.  These 
closing  days  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  you 
live.  O  that  I  could  say  to  each  of  you  the  very 
words  that  you  need,  and  that  some  short  and 
striking  and  earnest  motto  could  take  possession 
of  your  life  as  a  guiding  principle!  I  would  not 
dare  to  give  you  words  of  my  own. 

In  our  school  work  we  have  tried  to  exalt  God, 
and  out  of  his  Book,  which  is  the  only  safe  guide 
for  our  feet,  I  offer  you  two  sentences  and  pray 
God's  blessing  upon  them  for  you. 

The  first  is:    "Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts." 
By  gifts  are  meant  qualifications,  talents,  abil- 
ities,   eloquence,    action    and    utterance,    and    the 
power  of  speech  to  move  men's  hearts;  exquisite 

15 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

taste,  executive  ability,  womanliness,  knowledge, 
faith,  patience,  kindness,  are  some  of  the  best 
gifts.  Covet  them  earnestly,  strongly  desire  them, 
press  on  to  their  attainment. 

These  gifts  are  tools  for  the  work  you  have  to 
do.  You  need  the  very  best.  Knowledge  and  all 
these  other  gifts  furnish  power,  and  you  need  the 
largest  storage  of  such  you  can  secure. 

My  second  sentence  completes  the  first:  "Covet 
earnestly  the  best  gifts,  and  yet  a  still  more  ex- 
cellent way  show  I  unto  you — the  way  of  love." 

"Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and 
of  angels,  though  I  understand  all  mysteries  and 
all  knowledge;"  though  I  have,  in  all  their  perfec- 
tion, the  very  highest  abilities  God  can  give,  and 
the  very  highest  training  of  the  greatest  schools, 
"if  I  have  not  love,  I  am  nothing." 

"Love  never  faileth,"  but  even  the  best  gifts 
all  fail.  Eloquence  and  learning  will  cease,  knowl- 
edge shall  vanish  away,  but  love  abideth  for- 
ever. 

How  shall  we  reach  it?  I  am  glad  that  my 
answer  can  be  given  with  all  the  earnestness  of 
absolute  conviction:  by  imitation  of  Christ. 

Above  all  things,  have  fervent  love.  This  is 
the  truth  I  would  leave  with  you  to-day.  It  is 
not  a  new  lesson  for  you.    It  was  the  first  word  I 

16 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

spoke  to  you  as  your  president  last  September. 
It  was  the  last  that  you  repeated  at  our  last  chapel 
exercises  of  the  year. 

Take  it  unto  your  hearts  and  lives,  and  may  you 
know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge, 
that  ye  may  be  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God. 

"Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding 
abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  ac- 
cording to  the  power  that  worketh  in  us,  unto 
him  be  glory  in  the  church  by  Christ  Jesus  through- 
out all  ages,  world  without  end.    Amen." 


17 


1895 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  JUNE  2,   1 895,   10. 45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Horace  Reed,  D.D. 

PRESIDING  ELDER  OF  THE  WEST  JACKSONVILLE  DISTRICT 

Text — John  4.  10.  "If  thou  knewest  the  gift 
of  God,  and  who  it  is  that  saith  to  thee, 
'Give  me  to  drink,'  thou  wouldest  have 
asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given 
thee  living  water." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,  JUNE  4,   1895,  2.3O  P.   M. 


Class  of  1895 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Blackburn,  Sarah  Estelle,  R.  R.  7,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Boley,   Louise   Ruth    (Mrs.   William   B.   Jess),    1460  Lowell 
Avenue,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Boston,  Eleanor  (Mrs.  James  William  Putnam),  40  South 
Ritter  Avenue,  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 

Bourne,  Amelia  Harriet,  846  East  Routt  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Buxton,   Grace   Parris    (Mrs.   Frederick  Scott   Brown),    122 
West  Pine  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Common,  Jeanette  A. 

Crum,  Edith  Winifred  (Mrs.  Lee  Skiles),  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Davenport,  Eva  Magill  (Mrs.  W.  W.  Gillham),  930  West 
State  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Graham,  Cora  Gordon,  637  South  Hardin  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Henry,  Mamie  Belle  (Mrs.  George  Curtiss),  Box  205,  San 
Anselmo,  California. 

Jones,  Mary  E.,  1457  South  Main  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Kuechler,  lone  Selma,  218  South  Prairie  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Loar,  Mary  Janet,  545  South  Hardin  Avenue,  Jacksonville. 

Plouer,  Alice  May,  868  North  Church  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Purviance,  Flora  Gaskill   (Mrs.  W.  G.  Cooper),  Savannah, 
Missouri. 

Reed,   Bertha  Anna   (Mrs.  George  R.  Coffman),  Missoula, 
Montana. 

Sater,  Eunice  Farar  (Mrs.  Stephen  A.  D.  Harry),  Mattoon, 
Illinois. 

Spears,  Lena,  Tallula,  Illinois. 

Townsend,  Winifred  A. 

Ward,  Grace  Belle  (Mrs.  Fred  H.  H.  Calhoun),  Clemson  Col- 
lege, South  Carolina. 

Wood,   Clara  Fedelia   (Mrs.   Neil  S.   Duckels),   826  Second 
Street,  Santa  Monica,  California. 
21 


Tke  Rick  Indwelling  of  Christ's  Word 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1895: 

I  count  it  a  great  privilege,  and  I  also  recog- 
nize it  as  a  great  responsibility,  that  I  may  speak 
to  you  the  last  words  in  your  college  course  of 
instruction.  Words  are  soon  spoken  and  frequently 
as  soon  forgotten.  Probably  much  of  what  has 
been  said  to  you  by  your  teachers  will  pass  from 
your  memories  as  the  busy  days  come  and  other 
duties  demand  your  attention.  Only  a  very  few 
things  will  remain.  I  hope  and  pray  that  among 
these  few  may  be  remembered  the  words  that  I 
am  now  about  to  speak. 

To  this  end  they  have  the  great  advantage 
that  this  is  not  the  first  time  you  have  heard  them. 
They  are  the  lessons  we  have  tried,  above  all 
others,  to  teach  you  now  for  two  years,  both  by 
precept  and  example;  and  we  have  labored  with 
you  and  for  you  with  all  the  earnestness  and  skill 
at  our  command,  to  make  the  instruction  become 
a  part  of  your  very  life. 

You  will  find  the  words  that  I  thus  wish  to 
impress  upon  you  in  Colossians  3.  16:  "Let  the 
word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom." 

23 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

The  word  of  Christ  is  the  word  of  God.  It 
includes  not  only  the  words  of  Jesus  himself, 
though  these  are  the  center  and  the  source  of  the 
rest,  but  also  all  the  words  spoken  under  God's 
inspiration  that  reveal  his  character  and  make 
clear  his  spirit. 

In  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  in  the  New;  in 
the  history  of  Abraham,  and  Moses,  and  Samuel; 
in  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Daniel; 
as  well  as  in  the  preaching  and  epistles  of  Paul, 
and  Peter,  and  John;  in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and 
spiritual  songs :  wherever  you  find  words  that  show 
forth  the  spirit  and  character  of  Christ:  that  is 
the  word  of  Christ. 

This  Bible,  which  you  have  been  studying, 
and  which  I  trust  you  have  learned  to  love:  this 
is  the  word  of  Christ. 

Let  this  word  dwell  in  you.  It  is  not  to  be  a 
mere  visitor  with  you;  a  casual  acquaintance,  com- 
ing to  see  you  occasionally,  meeting  you  only  on 
the  Sabbath  day.  It  is  to  dwell  in  you,  to  abide 
with  you,  to  have  a  permanent  lodgment  in  your 
mind  and  heart. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  scenes  in  Old  Tes- 
tament history  is  that  when,  at  the  death  of  Moses, 
Joshua  is  called  to  take  command  of  the  children 

24 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

of  Israel.  It  was  Joshua's  commencement.  He 
had  been  Moses's  pupil  up  to  this  time.  Now  his 
life  work  was  to  begin  in  earnest. 

Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  him  and  through 
him  to  you:  "This  book  of  the  law  shall  not  depart 
out  of  thy  mouth ;  but  thou  shalt  meditate  therein 
day  and  night,  that  thou  mayest  observe  to  do  all 
that  is  written  therein;  for  then  shalt  thou  make 
thy  way  prosperous,  and  then  shalt  thou  have 
good  success." 

The  word  of  Christ  is  now  richer  and  fuller 
than  it  was  in  Joshua's  time,  and  may  be  still 
more  securely  depended  upon  to  guide  aright  all 
who  diligently  follow  its  precepts. 

It  should  dwell  in  you  intellectually.  You 
should  not  only  read  it,  but  you  should  mark, 
learn,  and  inwardly  digest  it.  It  should  be  in 
your  memory.  Its  revelation  of  the  character  of 
God,  his  fatherhood,  his  holiness,  his  justice,  his 
mercy,  his  yearning  over  you;  of  your  own  dignity 
as  made  in  his  image,  and  of  the  possibility  of  its 
full  realization  through  Jesus;  the  great  and  pre- 
cious promises,  arranged  to  fit  every  possible  ex- 
perience of  all  our  varied  lives;  these  are  all  there, 
and  ought  to  be  so  known  to  you  that  they  may 
be  a  part  of  your  involuntary  thought. 

25 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

But  beware  lest  you  be  content  with  a  merely 

intellectual  knowledge  of  the  word  of  Christ.     It 

must  dwell,  not  only  in  your  intellect,  but  in  your 

heart. 

"It  is  the  heart,  and  not  the  brain, 
That  to  the  highest  doth  attain. 

Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life,  and  the 
word  of  Christ  cannot  dwell  in  you  richly,  in  all 
wisdom,  unless  it  reaches  down  to  the  very  depth 
of  your  lives,  and  takes  hold  of  the  springs  of  all 
your  actions. 

The  future  is  all  a  blank  before  us,  and  what 
will  come  to  any  one  of  us  we  cannot  tell.  But 
the  star  of  hope  brightens,  and  dark  doubts  dis- 
appear, as  we  know  that  the  word  of  Christ  dwells 
in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom.  It  will  be  a  lamp  unto 
your  feet,  and  a  light  to  your  pathway  through 
the  darkest  night  and  along  the  roughest  road. 

When  you  come  into  your  fiercest  conflicts, 
wrestling  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  then 
again  we  shall  cease  to  be  anxious  for  you  in  pro- 
portion as  we  know  you  are  armed  with  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  and  are  expert  in  its  use. 

Let  its  promises  fill  you  with  a  high  and  holy 
aspiration  to  live  so  that  you  may  surely  inherit 

them. 

26 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Make  this  word  of  Christ  the  guide  of  your 
life,  and  then  your  pathway  will  certainly  be,  as  I 
am  sure  hundreds  of  your  friends  to-day  join  me 
in  wishing  it  may  be,  "brighter  and  brighter,  unto 
the  perfect  day." 


1896 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  MAY  31,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Artz 

PASTOR  BROOKLYN  CHURCH,  JACKSONVILLE,   ILL. 

Text — Esther  4.  14.  "And  who  knoweth 
whether  thou  art  come  to  the  kingdom 
for  such  a  time  as  this." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,  JUNE  2,    1896,   2.30  P.   M. 


Class  of  1896 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Arenz,  Jessica  Rutledge  (Mrs.  Horace  A.  Coleman),  Palmyra, 
Illinois. 

•Cantrall,  Ruth  Made  (Mrs.  Jesse  Pickrell). 

Crum,  Edith  Winifred  (Mrs.  Lee  Skiles),  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Downs,  Urinthia  May  (Mrs.  W.  Anderson),  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri. 

Harbour,  Myrtle  Belle  (Mrs.  Vincent  J.  Cohenour),  308 
Union  Street,  Joliet,  Illinois. 

Melton,  Frances  C,  8  Torii  Baka  Azaba,  Tokio,  Japan. 

Osborne,  Reon  E.  B.  (Frank  Rumsey  Elliott),  3200  Sheridan 
Road,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Smith,  Bessie  Brown  (Byron  Gailey),  340  West  State  Street, 
Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Stewart,  Rachel  Higley  (Mrs.  Earle  Henry  Miner),  Plain 
View,  Texas. 

Welch,  Clara  Morton  (Mrs.  W.  A.  Green),  Wausau,  Wis- 
consin. 


31 


Getting  Onl;9  in  Order  to  Gr\)e 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1896: 

I  trust  that  the  noble  and  inspiring  truths  to 
which  you  have  just  listened  may  be  deeply  and 
permanently  graven  on  your  minds  and  hearts. 

This  is  a  notable  occasion  for  you.  There  is 
little  danger  that  you  will  soon  forget  it.  You 
have  for  months,  perhaps  years,  looked  forward  to 
it,  talked  about  it,  planned  for  it. 

Commencement  day  seems  oftentimes  to  be 
thought  of  as  a  day  which,  with  mingled  feelings 
of  hope  and  fear,  we  enter  a  new  world.  This  is 
not  so. 

Life  is  not  cut  into  clearly-marked  divisions. 
Childhood,  youth,  middle  age,  and  old  age  are 
not  separated  by  sharp  lines,  but  glide  insensibly 
one  into  the  other,  just  as  the  seasons  of  the  year. 

The  passage  from  school  life  which  you  are 
now  making  will  in  itself  bring  no  great,  sudden 
change  to  you,  or  in  your  conditions  and  relations. 
Graduating  from  school  is  not,  as  we  sometimes 
hear,  coming  to  the  end  of  a  delightful  journey 
over  flowery  paths  and  launching  your  boats  on 
a  rough  and  tempestuous  sea. 

33 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Life  is  all  one  ocean.  You  boats  were  launched 
on  it  several  years  ago,  and  commencement  day 
will  not  change  its  character  of  smoothness  or 
roughness.  It  will  not  even  change  the  direction 
of  your  sailing.  You  will  sail  on,  steadily,  grad- 
ually, just  as  you  have  done  before;  or,  to  change 
the  figure,  life  is  one  continuous  pathway,  and  you 
will  continue  to  journey  on,  step  by  step,  after 
these  commencement  exercises,  just  as  you  have 
been  doing  before. 

Do  not  imagine  that  you  are  now  coming  to  a 
door,  which,  when  opened,  will  reveal  a  new  and 
strange  and  untried  life.  The  world  into  which 
you  are  going  is  the  same  world  as  that  in  which 
you  now  live,  and  the  life  you  have  already 
tried  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  life  which  is  yet  to 
come. 

What  have  been  the  qualities  that  have  brought 
whatever  success  you  have  attained  in  the  past? 
Industry,  economy  of  time,  perseverance,  close  ap- 
plication, and  attention  to  duty,  self-denial,  loving 
obedience,  a  high  aim,  a  firm  trust. 

The  same  virtues  will  bring  success  in  the 
future.  In  the  life  before  you,  just  as  in  the  past, 
constant  ascending  depends  on  constant  climbing, 
and  just  as  soon  as  you  cease  earnest  and  well- 
directed  effort,  just  so  soon  will  you  cease  to  grow. 

34 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

" Contentment  with  present  attainment  is  the 
cause  of  all  decline." 

But,  while  it  is  thus  true  that  your  future  life 
will  be  very  much  as  your  past,  and  the  elements 
of  success  the  same  as  before,  there  is  one  respect 
in  which,  from  now  on,  your  lives  should  more 
and  more  completely  change.  Up  to  this  time  you 
have  been  largely,  almost  wholly,  recipients.  All 
good  influences  have  flowed  toward  you.  All  who 
have  been  most  intimately  associated  with  you 
have  lived  for  you.  Your  parents  have  almost 
given  their  lives  for  you.  They  have  toiled,  and 
planned,  and  denied  themselves,  that  you  might 
have  advantages  and  opportunities  they  never  had. 

Men  and  women  of  the  past,  self-forgetting, 
have  paid  a  great  price  for  the  social  and  political 
systems  of  which  you  are  receiving  the  benefits. 
Schools  have  been  established  and  maintained  at 
great  cost  and  sacrifice  for  you.  Your  teachers 
have  many  times  forgotten  themselves  in  their 
interest  over  you,  and  their  desire  for  your  ad- 
vancement. You  have  been  the  center  toward 
which  all  helpful  influences,  advantages,  and  aid, 
material,  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual,  have  come 
from  every  direction.    "Freely  you  have  received." 

From  this  time  on,  begin  to  give  more  and 
more.     As  soon  as  you  reach  your  homes,  begin 

35 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

to  give  back  in  love  and  care  and  helpfulness  to 
your  parents.  Pay  back  to  your  country,  in  prompt 
and  ready  obedience  to  its  laws,  and  in  usefulness 
and  patriotic  devotion  to  all  its  interests,  a  part 
of  the  great  debt  you  owe  to  it. 

Remember  the  schools  that  have  helped  to 
develop  you,  and  as  you  may  be  able  by  time  or 
money  or  interest  and  personal  attention  give 
yourselves  away,  through  them,  to  the  generation 
that  shall  follow  you. 

I  do  not  mean  that  you  shall  not  continue  to 
acquire.  Move  forward,  with  all  your  powers,  to 
the  very  highest  and  most  varied  acquisitions,  but 
get  only  in  order  to  give. 

"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 

"Go,  labor  on,  spend  and  be  spent, 
Your  joy  to  do  the  Father's  will. 
It  is  the  way  the  Master  went, 

Shall  not  the  servant  tread  it  still?" 

And  if  this  season  shall  be  for  each  of.  you  the 
commencement  of  a  life  of  self-forgetting  and  of 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  others,  then  will  it  be 
a  commencement  indeed. 


36 


i897 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  30,   1 897,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Chris  Galeener,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH,  JACKSONVILLE,  ILL. 

Text — Acts  3.  10.     "The  beautiful  gate  of  the 
temple." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
WEDNESDAY,   JUNE   2,    1897,    2.3O   P.    M. 

Address  by  Rev.  D.  H.  Moore,  D.D. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  WESTERN  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE,  CINCINNATI,  O. 


Class  of  1897 

(With    1918    addresses) 

Alexander,  Catherine  (Mrs.  Arthur  Burbank),  1012  North 
Eighth  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Balch,  Mary  Margaret  (Mrs.  John  W.  Johnson),  Mattoon, 
Illinois. 

Baldwin,  Isabelle  Cherye,  329  South  Clay  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville. 

Burnett,  Emma,  Waverly,  Illinois. 

Burnett,  Lucinda  (Mrs.  Lewis  J.  Massie),  Franklin,  Illinois. 

Case,  Edna,  Carlyle,  Illinois. 

*Clark,  Florence  Paine  (Mrs.  John  Duer). 

*Davis,  Lillian. 

De  Motte,  Amelia  Graves,  242  Prospect  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Hackman,  Edith,  530  South  Clay  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illi- 
nois. 

Hinrichsen,  Anne,  Alexander,  Illinois. 

Huckstep,  Jessie  Leonora  (Oscar  Evans  Porter),  305  Kenil- 
worth  Avenue,  Oak  Park,  Illinois. 

Joy,  Bertha  Alice  (Mrs.  John  Allen  Schmink),  321  Jefferson 
Avenue,  Aurora,  Missouri,  Box  442. 

Layton,  Linda  Boyce  (Mrs.  Albert  R.  Trapp),  1520  South 
Sixth  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

McClelland,  Ila,  1401  Lowell  Boulevard,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Paxton,  Agnes  Margaret,  314  North  Prairie  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Reynolds,  Fama  Lora  (Mrs.  William  Engleback),  4720  West- 
minster Place,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Whorton,  Grace  Edith,  348  West  North  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Whorton,  Jessica  M.,  348  West  North  Street,  Jacksonville. 


39 


You  Cannot  Travel   Life's  Journey?  Alone 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1897: 

Every  year  brings  to  me  a  larger  and  clearer 
view  of  the  importance  of  the  commencement  oc- 
casion to  the  class.  It  is  a  testing  time  for  you,  a 
time  to  try  of  what  materials  your  character  has 
been  builded ;  and  with  what  strength  and  harmony 
and  proportion  these  materials  have  been  wrought 
together. 

Hitherto  your  lives  have  been  guided  for  you. 
Almost  every  step  of  the  way  has  been  marked 
out  for  you  by  loving  and  anxious  parents.  They 
have  chosen  your  path  for  you,  smoothing  down 
the  rough  places,  whenever  it  could  be  done,  and 
gently  lifting  you  and  carrying  you  when  the  road 
could  not  be  smoothed  or  when  you  showed  any 
signs  of  weariness.. 

In  your  school  life,  your  teachers  have  stood 
in  loco  parentis.  They  have  arranged  your  studies 
for  you,  and  have  guided  you  daily  and  hourly 
in  all  your  work.  But  the  world  moves  steadily 
forward,  and  you  have  been  moving  with  it. 

Others  are  now  demanding  the  world's  atten- 
tion; the  classes  in  school  are  crowding  forward, 

41 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

the  juniors  of  to-day  become  the  seniors  of  to- 
morrow, and  you:  we  crown  you  with  the  berries; 
call  you  "Baccalaureae,"  and  crowd  you  out. 

Your  parents  and  teachers  will  follow  you  with 
anxious  thought  and  prayers.  Others  will  be  in- 
different; some  will  oppose  you;  but  all  alike, 
whether  friendly  or  indifferent  or  hostile,  think  of 
you  now  that  you  ought  to  begin  to  go  in  larger 
measure  alone. 

This  is  why  I  said  this  is  a  testing  time.  Some, 
when  thus  left,  stand  quite  still  for  months  and 
years.  The  world  moves  over  them  and  they  are 
soon  lost  to  view.  Some,  mistaking  license  for 
liberty,  glad  to  find  restraint  relaxed,  run  swiftly 
down  forbidden  paths,  and  are  worse  than  lost  to 
view.  But  there  are  others.  They  were  in  Emer- 
son's mind  when  he  wrote 

"So  nigh  is  glory  to  our  dust; 
So  near  is  God  to  man; 
When  duty  whispers  low,  Thou  must, 
The  youth  replies,  I  can." 

These  bravely  grasp  the  staff  of  life,  look 
boldly  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  taking 
as  their  motto,  "Viam  inveniam,  aut  faciam" — "I 
will  either  find  a  way  or  make  one" — move  steadily 
forward  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  appointed 

42 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

duty.  Young  women,  which  shall  it  be?  We  can- 
not tell;  we  can  only  hope  and  pray. 

I  feel  toward  you,  as  a  class,  a  peculiar  interest 
or  tenderness.  We  entered  the  college  together. 
We  have  taken  a  course  together.  And  now,  to- 
gether, we  stand  looking  out  into  the  future.  The 
advice  that  is  good  for  you  is  good  for  me,  and  I 
am  now  going  to  try  to  express  my  own  deepest 
need,  and  ask  you  to  join  me  in  my  own  earnest 
prayer. 

I  have  said  that  henceforth  we  must  try  to  go 
alone.  But  we  cannot  do  it.  Humanly  we  can — 
we  must.  Indeed,  humanly  we  must  do  more — we 
must  help  others  to  go,  as  others  have  helped  us. 

But  all  past  experience  proves  human  inability 
to  direct  itself,  unless  divinely  aided.  Christ  never 
spoke  a  truer  word  than  when  he  said,  "Without 
me  ye  can  do  nothing."  Let  us  not  attempt  to 
begin  life's  duties  without  him.  This  is  the  secret 
of  all  life's  failures. 

The  picture  that  I  wish  to  keep  before  me  is 
that  of  Moses  in  his  tent,  talking  face  to  face  with 
God.  He  was  engaged  in  a  great  undertaking. 
He  was  beginning  to  realize,  as  he  had  never 
done  before,  his  own  weakness.  The  thought  that 
perhaps  God  might  not  accompany  him  com- 
pletely overpowers  him,  and  he  cries  in  agony  of 

43 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

soul,  "If  thy  presence  go  not  with  us,  carry  us 
not  up  hence." 

This  is  my  prayer  for  myself  and  you  this 
morning.  That  we  may  realize  everywhere  the 
full  meaning  of  "Immanuel — God  with  us." 

God's  presence  will  keep  us  pure.  No  un- 
hallowed thought  can  enter  if  his  presence  fills 
the  heart.  His  presence  will  give  us  power.  No 
burden  will  be  too  heavy,  no  duty  too  hard,  if 
our  help  comes  from  the  Lord,  who  made  heaven 
and  earth. 

In  his  companionship  there  will  be  peace.  In 
all  life's  storms  his  voice  will  be  heard  above  the 
raging  of  the  tempest,  saying,  "Peace,  be  still!" 
In  his  presence  is  fullness  of  joy,  and  at  his  right 
hand  are  pleasures  forever  more,  not  in  heaven 
after  death  alone,  but  even  here  and  now. 

Here,  then,  together  let  us  make  our  prayer 
for  the  divine  companionship:  "If  thy  presence 
go  not  with  us,  carry  us  not  up  hence;"  "I  will 
not  let  Thee  go,  unless  Thou  bless  me;"  and  may 
the  gracious  answer  come  to  all  of  us,  "My  pres- 
ence shall  go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest." 


44 


l8(j<S 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRAND  OPERA  HOUSE,  JACKSONVILLE,   ILL. 
SUNDAY,   MAY  29,    1898,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Richard  G.  Hobbs,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  CENTENARY  CHURCH 

Text — Ephesians   6.    10.     "Be   strong   in   the 
Lord,  and  in  the  power  of  his  might." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  GRAND  OPERA  HOUSE 
TUESDAY,  MAY  31,    1 898,  2.3O  P.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Frank  Crane,  D.D. 

PASTOR    OF   TRINITY   METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH,    CHICAGO 

ILL. 


Class  of  1898 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Ellis,   Louese  (Mrs.  Paul   Munson  Thomas),  721   N.  Cedar 

Street,  Nevada,  Missouri. 
Everts,  Emma  Marsh,  Virden,  Illinois. 
Gillespy,  Nellie  Grace  (Mrs.  Frank  Lewis  Kelsheimer),  R.  F. 

D.  9,  Paris,  Illinois. 
Gillmore,  Grace  Benedict  (Mrs.  John  Edgar  Ullman),  2918 

Rutland  Avenue,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 
Harker,  Maude  Susie  (Mrs.  Albert  Metcalf),  Illinois  Woman's 

College,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Huntley,  Mary  Alice  (Mrs.  Edwin  Welch),  706  West  First 

Street,  Oil  City,  Pennsylvania. 
Keating,   Katherine   I.    (Mrs.   Mike  Morrisey),  508  Hardin 

Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Kennedy,   Helen   Theresa,   340   Brent  Street,   Los  Angeles, 

California. 
*Kenyon,  Clara  Mae  (Mrs.  A.  L.  Fouche). 
Knollenberg,    Clara    Grace    (Rolland    E.    Thompson),    Elm 

Street,  Monticello,  Illinois. 
Laughney,  Elsie  Allen  (Mrs.  Arthur  W.  Carr),  Bridgewater, 

Massachusetts 
Oakey,  Mabel  (Mrs.  Ira  Honefenger),   1104  Knox  Avenue, 

Spokane,  Washington. 
Pratt,  Christiana  Amelia  (Mrs.  Homer  Decker),  Bluff  Springs, 

Illinois. 
Smith,    Lela    Milmine   (Mrs.   Thomas   Lyons),   846   Douglas 

Avenue,  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Stevenson,  Claira  Staley,   1050  West  College  Avenue,  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. 

47 


Welden,  Mary  (Mrs.  Frank  S.  Clarke),  21 19  Eighth  Avenue, 

South  Nashville,  Tennessee. 
Wood,  Grace  Adelaide  (Mrs.   Robert  E.  Jess),  2360  West 

Twenty-second  Street,  Los  Angeles,  California. 
Winterbotham,  Elizabeth  Catherine  (Mrs.  Howard  Carriel), 

3538  Grand  Boulevard,  Chicago,  Illinois. 


48 


Tke  Greatest  Reward  of  Faithful   Service 
Is  a  More  Difficult  Task 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1898: 

We  greet  you  as  Baccalaureae!  As  in  the  days 
of  Grecian  glory,  the  victors  in  the  contests  were 
crowned  with  laurel,  receiving  public  honor  in 
token  of  triumph,  so  this  morning  we  are  as- 
sembled to  honor  you,  in  recognition  of  the  suc- 
cessful accomplishment  of  your  school  course. 

The  world  is  full  of  men  and  women  who  begin 
to  do  something,  but  there  are  comparatively  few 
who  finish  what  they  begin. 

Of  those  who  begin  to  secure  an  education,  not 
more  than  one  in  fifty  complete  such  a  course  as 
you  have  pursued. 

"Many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen,"  be- 
cause few  show  themselves  to  be  possessed  of 
those  qualities  of  endurance  and  perseverance 
which  are  necessary  to  the  successful  finishing  of 
work  which  they  undertake. 

Up  to  this  point  you  have  endured.  You  have 
finished  your  course  here.  And  you  have  a  per- 
fect right  to  enjoy  the  occasion,  and  to  receive  the 

49 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

rewards  and  privileges  which  belong  only  to  those 
advanced  to  the  same  rank  here  and  elsewhere. 
"Thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things;  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."      x 

Your  parents  and  friends  are  glad  to-day;  your 
teachers  have  a  just  pride  in  your  faithful  per- 
formance of  duty;  these  friends  are  interested  in 
you  because  of  your  success.  Enter  with  us  into 
our  joy,  and  let  your  hearts  exult  with  proper  pride 
because  of  the  successful  accomplishment  of  the 
work  laid  out  for  you. 

Throughout  your  lives  you  will  find  this  one 
of  the  greatest  rewards  of  faithful  service.  May 
you  always  so  live  and  labor  that  at  the  close  of 
every  task  you  will  have  the  consciousness  of 
having  done  well,  receive  the  applause  of  your 
fellows,  and  the  approving  witness  of  the  Spirit 
of  God. 

But  there  is  another  reward  of  faithful  service 
which  has  possibly  escaped  your  notice.  It  is  a 
higher  reward  than  the  "well  done,  good  and  faith- 
ful servant."  It  is  higher  than  the  invitation  to 
enter  into  the  Master's  joy. 

You  have  probably  thought  that  rest  is  the 
natural  reward  of  faithful  labor.  And  you  have 
doubtless  looked  forward  to  this  occasion  as  a 
time  when  you  could  rest,  and  enjoy  a  vacation 

50 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

after  a  long  and  arduous  task.  This  is  right.  But 
what  I  want  to  show  you  is  that  this  period  of  rest 
is  the  smallest  part  of  your  reward. 

Listen  to  these  words:  "Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant:  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a 
few  things;  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things."  Here  is  the  greatest  reward  of  faithful 
service — the  call  to  the  larger  and  more  difficult 
task. 

Washington's  reward  for  faithful  service  in  his 
mission  to  Fort  Du  Quesne  was  his  appointment 
to  a  small  command  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War.  His  reward  for  faithful  service  in  the  French 
and  Indian  War  was  his  appointment  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Colonial  forces.  His  reward 
for  faithful  service  in  this  capacity  was  the  unan- 
imous selection  as  the  first  President  of  the  new 
republic. 

The  whole  world  paused  a  week  ago,  even  in 
the  fierce  excitement  of  war,  to  honor  the  memory 
of  the  greatest  statesman  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, William  Gladstone.  His  reward  for  diligence 
and  industry  in  school  was  his  election  to  parlia- 
ment at  the  age  of  twenty-three;  his  reward  here 
for  faithful  attention  to  duty  was  his  appointment 
two  years  later  to  a  position  in  the  cabinet.  Be- 
fore long  he  was  called  to  be  chancellor  of  the  ex- 

5i 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

chequer,  and  then  still  upward  to  be  prime  min- 
ister. 

At  the  close  of  every  service  that  he  rendered 
he  received  the  greatest  of  all  honors — he  was 
called  to  higher  service. 

The  world  needs  women  who  can  do  something 
more  than  has  already  been  done.  You  here  this 
morning  receive  the  first  crown — the  "well  done" 
of  your  teachers  and  friends. 

Are  you  strong  enough  and  brave  enough  to 
let  us  put  a  second  and  larger  crown  upon  you, 
and  send  you  out  with  the  confident  expectation 
that  you  will  not  now  sit  down,  but  that  you  will 
enter  upon  a  still  more  difficult  duty  than  you 
have  yet  undertaken? 

Highly  resolve  here  this  morning  that  you  will 
never  allow  the  sound  of  the  "well  done"  for  the 
completion  of  one  service  to  die  away  before  you 
have  girded  yourselves  in  readiness  to  assume  a 
larger  responsibility — to  undertake  a  more  difficult 
work. 

And  at  last,  at  the  close  of  a  life  of  constantly 
enlarging  usefulness  and  capability,  may  we  all 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Master  saying  unto  us,  "Thou 
hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make 
thee  ruler  over  many  things;  enter  thou  into  the 
joy  of  thy  Lord." 

52 


1 899 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  MAY  28,    1 899,    10. 45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  S.  W.  Thornton,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH 

Text — Ruth  1.  14-17.    Subject — "A  Queenly 
Woman's  Choice." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,   MAY  30,    1899,    10  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  J.  T.  McFarland,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  TOPEKA,   KAN. 


Class  of  1899 

(With    1  9  18   addresses) 

Blackburn,  Elizabeth  Idella  (Mrs.  Edgar  Martin),  283  North 
Sandusky  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Blackburn,  Frances  Eliza   (Mrs.  J.  S.   Campbell),  Tuscola, 
Illinois. 

Blackburn,  C.  Viola  (Mrs.  Wm.  Edward  Fearon),  288  East 
B  Street,  Coalinga,  California. 

Byers,   Eda   Lois,   Berton   Manor,  4516   Magnolia  Avenue, 
Chicago. 

Clark,  Mary  Nellie  (Mrs.  David  Franklin  Hill),  194  Waban 
Avenue,  Waban,  Massachusetts. 

Cleary,  Mary  Hester,  1325  West  College  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Ewart,   Anna   Louise    (Mrs.   Samuel   H.    Ervin),   822   West 
Twelfth  Street,  Riverside,  California. 

Heimlich,   Laura  Lucille   (Mrs.   Leo  George  Linhard),  603 
South  East  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Henion,    Lora   Atkins    (Mrs.    Arthur    Howard    Sutherland), 
2242  Cambridge  Street,  Los  Angeles,  California. 

*Hopper,  Effie  Amelia. 

Kendall,  May  Estelle  (Mrs.  Wm.  D.  Wilhoit),  Newton,  Illi- 
nois. 

Kent,  Sophronia  May,  513  West  Morgan  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Kolp,  Lucy  Dimmitt  (Mrs.  A.  J.  Kolp),  831  West  College 
Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Layman,  Elsie  A.   (Mrs.  Franklin  C.  Sherman),  58  North 
Forge  Street,  Akron,  Ohio. 

Lewis,  Ester  Ray  (Mrs.  Edgar  L.  Kendall),  Bluffs,  Illinois. 

McCasland,  Grace  P. 

Phillippe,  Mary  Ida  (Mrs.  Milton  W.  Gatch),  2600  North 
Calvert  Street,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
55 


Poe,  Nellie  Frances  (Mrs.  J.  W.  Tudor),  Homer,  Illinois. 

Sellars,  Lola  May. 

Shuff,  Estella  Mae  (Mrs.  James  Mahon),  R.  R.,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Shuff,  Helen  Gertrude  (Mrs.  John  LaFayette  Waddell),  Box 

146,  Hardin,  Montana. 
Vasey,  Alcina  Lavinia  (Mrs.  Wm.  T.  Richardson),  R.  R.  1, 

Ashland,  Illinois. 
Vertrees,   Sada   Amelia    (Mrs.   Walter   U.    Kennedy),   4150 

Carter  Avenue,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 
Williams,   Blanche  Mannette   (Mrs.   Willis   E.   Urick),   832 

Windsor  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois. 


56 


Forward  Reaching  for  the  Prize  of  God 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1899: 

For  years  you  have  been  under  our  instruction, 
daily  receiving  our  care  and  suggestions.  You 
have  now  come  to  the  end  of  the  course,  and  I  am 
to  speak  to  you  my  last  words  as  your  teacher. 

The  commencement  occasion  means  much  more 
to  me  now  than  it  used  to  do.  I  think  of  it  not 
only  as  a  severing  of  ties  for  you,  but  also  for  me. 
During  these  years  I  have  watched  your  course 
with  alternating  hopes  and  fears;  I  have  rejoiced 
at  your  successes;  I  have  been  disappointed  at 
your  failures;  and  you  have  grown  into  my  very 
life. 

Now  you  must  pass  out  away  from  me.  How 
I  yearn  to  be  able  to  say  just  one  final  word  that 
will  be  an  inspiration  to  you;  to 

"Lift  your  souls  from  the  common  sod, 
To  purer  air  and  a  grander  view." 

I  cannot  do  better  than  to  suggest  to  you  the 
motto  of  the  apostle  Paul.  It  is  characteristic  of 
every  successful  life;  the  key  by  which  many  have 
entered  into  their  Master's  joy  and  rulership  over 

57 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

many  things ;  the  seed  that  has  made  fruitful  many 
an  otherwise  barren  life.  Adopt  the  motto  as 
your  own : 

"Forget  the  things  that  are  behind;  reach  for- 
ward to  the  things  that  are  before;  and  press  to- 
ward the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Forget  the  things  that  are  behind. 

The  besetting  sin  of  college  graduates  is  that 
they  are  satisfied  with  what  they  have  already 
done.  You  have  done  well,  but  the  very  crown 
of  your  success  has  been  that  you  have  always 
been  leaving  attainments  already  made  for  others 
still  out  of  reach,  leaving  arithmetic  for  algebra, 
leaving  Caesar  for  Cicero,  leaving  the  less  difficult 
for  the  more  difficult.  Success  in  the  future  can 
be  reached  only  in  the  same  way. 

"We  rise  by  things  that  are  'neath  our  feet, 
By  what  we  have  mastered  of  good  and  gain." 

Make  stepping-stones  of  your  present  attain- 
ments to  lift  yourselves  up  to  still  higher  levels. 

Reach  forward  to  the  things  that  are  before: 
things  still  ahead  of  you  in  knowledge,  in  literature, 
science,  and  art.  You  have  merely  moistened  your 
lips  in  Shakespeare,  and  Emerson,  and  Longfellow. 
Drink  still  deeper.    Reach  still  farther  forward. 

58 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Things  ahead  of  you  in  character;  in  faith,  and 
hope,  and  love;  in  ability  to  resist  the  wrong,  to 
do  the  right,  to  overcome  your  lower  tendencies, 
to  cultivate  the  higher.  Let  your  whole  life  be 
characterized  by  an  earnest  endeavor  to  reach  a 
still  higher  standard. 

Do  not  leave  the  school  to  enter  upon  an  aim- 
less life;  but  set  for  yourselves  a  mark,  a  purpose, 
a  something  to  be  reached,  which  shall  be  worthy 
of  your  best  endeavor,  and  consistent  with  your 
own  inherent  dignity,  as  created  in  the  image  of 
God;  and  then  steadily,  perseveringly,  without 
haste,  but  without  rest,  move  on  step  by  step  to 
its  accomplishment. 

Above  all,  let  all  your  forward-reaching  be  for 
a  prize  which  is  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Without 
Christ  in  your  hearts  and  lives,  you  can  do  nothing. 
If  God  is  not  in  your  plans,  they  will  come  to 
naught.  Earthly  prizes  are  all  vanity  if  they  are 
not  accompanied  by  the  blessing  of  God. 

Many  prizes  will  present  themselves  to  you 
for  your  striving:  test  them  all  by  this  touchstone 
— are  they  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus?  Do  not  fear 
that  thus  limited  there  will  not  be  scope  for  all 
your  highest  ambitions  and  the  exercise  of  all  your 
powers. 

The  fields  of  Christian  activity  are  large,  and 
59 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

there  is  large  scope  for  all  the  varied  powers  of  all 

the  workers.     Press  toward  the  mark  for  such  a 

prize. 

"  'Tis  God's  all  animating  voice 
That  calls  thee  from  on  high, 
'Tis  His  own  hand  presents  the  prize 
To  thine  aspiring  eye." 

Forget,  then,  the  thifigs  that  are  behind;  reach 
forward  to  the  things  that  are  before;  press  toward 
the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus;  and  may  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
Judge  himself,  in  his  own  good  time,  present  to 
you  the  crown  of  righteousness. 


60 


1900 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  MAY  27,    I9OO,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Preston  Wood,  Jr. 

PASTOR  OF  BROOKLYN  CHURCH 

Text — 1   Chronicles  22.   16.     "Arise  therefore 
and  be  doing,  and  the  Lord  be  with  thee." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,  MAY  29,    I9OO,    10  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  W.  F. -McDowell,  D.D. 

SECRETARY  OF  THE   BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  OF  THE  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,   NEW  YORK 


Class  of  1900 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Abbott,  Alice   Myrtle   (Mrs.   Frank  A.   McCarty),  Quincy, 
Illinois. 

Batz,  Lillian  Wilhelmina  (Mrs.  Robert  Stice),  Cherry  Apts., 
Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Chaffee,    Lura    Josephine    (Mrs.    Frank    M.    McMath),    12 
Southern  Express  Building,  Memphis,  Tennessee. 

De  Groot,  Mabel  Margaret  (Mrs.  Frank  Deily). 

Fox,  Clara,  R.  R.,  Granite  City,  Illinois. 

Frazier,  Mayme  Milligan  (Mrs.  Roy  J.  Seymore),  Marion, 
Illinois. 

Fuller,  Rachel  Lee,  318  North  Seventeenth  Street,  Omaha, 
Nebraska. 

Hardy,  Caroline  Gertrude. 

Hopper,  Anna  Elizabeth,  641  South  Diamond  Street,  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. 

Irving,  Ella  Mary  (Mrs.  R.  A.  Draper),  Rawlins,  Wyoming. 

Kinne,  Edna  M.  (Adolph  B.  Hammel),  Trenton,  Illinois. 

Larimore,  E.   Myrtle,  691   East  State  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Larimore,   Phebe  Helen   (Mrs.   Lloyd  Snerley),    1361   West 
Wood  Street,  Decatur,  Illinois. 

Mcllvaine,  Leah  Howell  (Mrs.  D.  Harry  Dobyns),  145  Cald- 
well Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Mathers,    Elizabeth    Tucker    (Mrs.    Wm.    Goebel),    Duncan 
Place,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Reese,  Nelle  Mae,  Pana,  Illinois. 

Schureman,  Nellie  M.,  605  East  North  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

63 


*Short,  Leila  Perley. 

Shuff,  Elizabeth  Mary  (Mrs.  Frederick  D.  Taylor),  Berlin, 

Illinois. 
*Shuff,  Nellie  Marie. 
Wright,  Josephine  (Mrs.  G.  J.  Koons),  2128  Division  Street, 

Murphysboro,  Illinois. 


64 


Whatever  You  Ougkt  to  Do,  You  Can  Do 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1900: 

Longfellow,  in  his  beautiful  poem,  "Keramos," 
says  of  the  potter: 

"Thus  mused  the  potter  at  his  clay 

Wrapped  in  his  visions  like  the  seer, 
Whose  eyes  beheld  not  what  is  near, 
But  only  what  is  far  away. 

Turn,  turn,  my  wheel!  what  is  begun 
At  daybreak  must  at  dark  be  done, 

Tomorrow  will  be  another  day; 
Tomorrow  the  hot  furnace  flame 
Will  search  the  heart  and  try  the  frame, 
And  stamp  with  honor  or  with  shame 

These  vessels  made  of  clay." 

You  are  thinking  of  to-day;  I  am  thinking  of 
to-morrow.  One  year,  ten  years,  fifty  years  from 
now,  what  will  the  record  be?  The  wheel  of  life 
continues  to  turn,  and  what  seemed  to  you  a  long 
way  off  when  you  entered  the  course  has  come 
around  sooner  than  it  seemed.  And  there  will  be 
no  stopping  of  its  turning. 

In  truth,  as  the  years  go  by,  it  appears  to  move 
with  ever-increasing  velocity.  What  thou  doest, 
do  quickly.  Very  soon  the  earnest  realities  of  life 
will  take  hold  of  you  lo 

65 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

"Search  the  heart  and  try  the  frame, 
And  stamp  with  honor  or  with  shame 
These  vessels  made  of  clay." 

We  have  done  what  we  could  for  you.  We 
have  prayed  for  you ;  we  have  planned  for  you ;  we 
have  instructed  you;  we  have  guided  you.  Now, 
as  others  have  been  sent  out,  we  send  you  out,  in 
order  that  you,  and  our  work  for  you,  may  be 
tested.    Our  hearts  go  with  you. 

"Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  you." 

How  shall  you  insure  success?  There  are  many 
suggestions  I  would  like  to  recall  to  you,  but  I  will 
content  myself  with  the  emphasis  of  one  lesson 
which  I  have  tried  to  impress  many  times  during 
the  year  upon  you:  you  must  believe  without  a 
shadow  of  question  that  whatever  you  ought  to  do, 
you  can  do. 

I  like  the  word  "can."  "Can"  means  knowl- 
edge. If  the  thing  is  not  really  known,  it  studies 
patiently,  earnestly,  persistently,  to  attain  it. 

"Can"  means  skill;  and,  if  the  necessary  skill 
is  not  possessed,  it  spends  years  with  pen,  or  tool, 
or  brush,  or  chisel;  never  wearying,  never  despair- 
ing. 

"Can"  is  a  wedge.'  Once  let  the  word  "can" 
66 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

get  complete  control  of  a  young  life,  and  the  world 
looks  on  with  astonishment  at  his  remarkable 
achievements.  It  is  the  word  "king"  in  another 
form.  A  king  is  merely  a  man  who  can,  who  is 
able,  who  has  power. 

"Can"  is  preeminently  a  word  for  the  young. 
Every  young  man  or  woman  can.  You  can. 
Whatever  you  ought  to  be,  you  can  be. 

There  is  no  more  pitiable  sight  in  all  creation 
than  a  young  man  or  woman  settling  down,  with 
feeble  knees  and  hands  hanging  helplessly,  bewail- 
ing his  inability. 

Hull  could  not  at  Detroit,  and  basely  sur- 
rendered the  whole  of  Michigan  into  the  hands  of 
the  British.  Harrison  and  Perry  could,  and  over 
Michigan  floated  the  stars  and  stripes. 

Whatever  you  ought  to  do,  you  can  do.  I 
trust  you  feel  this  power.  In  your  veins  let  the 
spirit  of  ability  leap  joyously;  let  your  young  am- 
bitions answer  to  my  words;  let  your  hearts  shout 
loud  and  cheerily  to  every  impulse  of  your  higher 
and  better  nature:    "I  can!    I  can!    I  can!" 

But  remember  again:  you  cannot  alone.  For 
success  you  must  always  keep  your  hearts  pure, 
so  that  you  may  have  the  vision  of  God.  If  the 
Lord  is  with  you,  then  you  can. 

Do  not  attempt  the  journey  of  life  alone.  The 
67 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Lord  be  with  you.  How  confidently  we  look  for- 
ward with  you  into  the  coming  years,  if  you  are 
strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his  might. 
Will  you  not,  every  one  of  you  this  morning, 
in  these  closing  exercises  of  your  college  life,  look 
up  with  me  with  unfaltering  faith,  place  your  hand 
in  the  hand  of  the  Omnipotent,  and  say,  "I  can 
do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth 
me?" 


68 


1901 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,    MAY  26,    I9OI,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  A.  L.  T.  Ewert 

PASTOR  OF  CENTENARY  CHURCH 

Text — Philippians  3.  12-13,  and  Philippians 
1.  21.  Subject — "The  Future's  Span  of 
Life,  and  How  to  Live  It." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,   MAY  28,    I9OI,    10  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Levi  Gilbert,  D.D. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  WESTERN  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE,  CINCINNATI,  O. 


Class  of  1901 

(With    1918    addresses) 

Adams,  Olive  Etta  (Mrs.  E.  H.  Boling),  Welsh,  Louisiana. 
Ball,  Lucy  Mary,  211  Caldwell  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Blackburn,  Elizabeth  Idella  (Mrs.  Edgar  Martin),  283  North 

Sandusky  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Burnett,  Emma,  Waverly,  Illinois. 
Curtiss,  Mabel  Myra  (Mrs.  Augustus  C.  Blancke),  321  Belden 

Avenue,  Chicago,  Illinois. 
Dickson,  Isaline  C,  Champaign,  Illinois. 
Doying,  Elizabeth  A.  (Mrs.  Frank  P.  Vickery),  921  Grove 

Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Elliott,  Lucile  (Mrs.  Howard  V.  Elliott),   117  Wall  Street, 

New  York. 
Fell,  Ethel  G.  (Mrs.  G.  W.  Bacon),  2003  Canon  Drive,  Holly- 
wood, Los  Angeles,  California. 
Harlowe,  Francis  Guernzie. 
Hart,  Besse  Geneva,  Franklin,  Illinois. 
Hayes,  Alice  Daisy  (Mrs.  Alfred  B.  Davis),  823  East  Main 

Street,  Belleville,  Illinois. 
Helm,  Mabel  Jane  (Mrs.  Ralph  B.  Holmes),  11 12  Franklin 

Street,  Danville,  Illinois. 
Helm,    Mary    Alice    (Mrs.    Charles    Troup),    1008    Walnut 

Street,  Danville,  Illinois. 
Hilsabeck,  Florence  Feme  (Mrs.  Orlando  Baxter),  212  East 

State  Street,  Marshalltown,  Iowa. 
Howell,  Flossie  L.  (Mrs.  Robert  Bell),  Selby,  California. 
Layman,    Elsie  Austin    (Mrs.   Franklin   Cole  Sherman),   58 

North  Forge  Street,  Akron,  Ohio. 
*Long,  Emma. 
Loose — Edith  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  C.  Martin  Wood),  432  South 

Union  Street,  Decatur,  Illinois. 

7i 


McFillen,  Elsie  Edna  (Mrs.  George  A.  Dunlap),  Literberry, 

Illinois. 
Marshall,  Irma  Edith  (Mrs.  J.  Russell  Wood),  Ipava,  Illinois. 
Merrill,  Vivian  (Mrs.  Charles  Ford  Mathew),  Tallula,  Illinois. 
Morrison,  Carrie  Marion  (Mrs.  Fred  J.  Angel),  119  North 

Ditman  Street,  Los  Angeles,  California. 
Rawlings,    Daisy   Alice    (Mrs.    LeRoy   Stimpson),    Wichita, 

Kansas. 
Richards,   Laura  Frances   (Mrs.  Charles  C.  Crandall),  302 

West  North  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Roberts,  Ethel   Matilda   (Mrs.  Otis  Osborn),  2654  Burling 

Street,  Chicago. 
Rottger,  Urla  Beatrice  (Mrs.  Robert  R.  Bruning),  Havana, 

Illinois. 
Russell,  Eleanor,  159  Caldwell  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Scott,  Dora  (Mrs.  Olen  B.  Cannon),  211  Kentucky  Street, 

Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Starr,  Edith  Allan  (Mrs. Haines),  571  West  Decatur 

Street,  Decatur,  Illinois. 
Thompson,    Hattie   Mae    (Mrs.   J.    Clarence   Lorton),    1431 

Holmes  Avenue,  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Wehn,  Susan  Evalyn. 
Wildi,  Hedwig  Luise  (Mrs.  John  F.  Montgomery),  1277  East 

Broad  Street,  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Withee,  Mabel  Anita,  1107  South  Clay  Avenue,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
*Woody,  Mary  (Mrs.  Edward  W.  Cass). 


I* 


Your  Candle  Has  Been  Lighted,  Let  It 
Shine 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1901 : 

I  would  that  you  could  feel  this  morning  the 
responsibility  of  your  position.  You  are  picked 
women.  In  order  to  gather  a  band  of  thirty-four 
women  like  you  it  is  necessary  to  have  five  thousand 
girls  to  select  from.  The  average  town  of  one 
thousand  inhabitants  does  not  furnish  more  than 
three  for  the  special  training  you  have  had. 

For  every  one  of  you  there  are  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  your  sister  women  who  have  not 
had  the  advantage  you  have  enjoyed,  and  who 
must  make  the  race  for  life  with  less  equipment 
and  a  poorer  preparation  than  you  possess. 

You  have  been  exalted  with  high  privilege. 
You  have  had  exceptional  advantages  in  your 
homes,  in  your  companions,  in  your  native  en- 
dowments, and  in  all  your  environments. 

And  let  me  remind  you  also  that  you  occupy 
this  high  vantage  ground  mainly  by  the  kindness  of 
others,  and  that  very  little  credit  of  it  belongs  to 
yourselves.  You  are  here  largely  because  your 
parents  are  industrious,  and  economical,  and  self- 

73 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

denying,  and  have  high  ambitions  and  large  hopes 
for  you. 

You  are  here  largely  because  of  friends  who 
have  encouraged  you,  assisted  you,  inspired  you; 
who  have  expected  something  from  you,  and  who 
have  given  you  material  aid  and  comfort  at  every 
step  of  the  journey. 

If  you  had  been  left  to  yourselves,  if  you  had 
been  less  favorably  surrounded,  many  of  you 
would,  in  all  probability,  like  other  young  women, 
have  ceased  the  upward  climbing  before  you  had 
attained  this  height. 

Now  remember  that  "a  city  set  on  a  hill  cannot 
be  hid."  From  women  with  advantages  and  op- 
portunities such  as  you  have  had  much  more  is 
expected  than  of  others  less  favorably  circum- 
stanced. 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.  Ye  are  the  light 
of  the  world. 

The  special  mission  of  the  educated  woman  is 
to  scatter  sweetness  and  light;  to  carry  purity  and 
refinement,  an  atmosphere  of  gentleness  and 
strength,  into  all  the  relations  of  life. 

Your  candle  has  been  lighted.  Now  let  it 
shine!  "Men  do  not  light  a  candle  and  put  it 
under  a  bushel."  These  advantages  have  not  been 
given   you    that   you  may  now  retire  to  your  re- 

74 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

spective  communities  and  bury  your  abilities,  but 
that  you  may  use  them  for  the  general  good. 

Men  put  the  lighted  candle  on  a  candlestick 
that  it  may  give  light  to  all  that  are  in  the  house; 
so  we  send  you  out  to  give  more  light  in  your 
homes;  to  make  parents  and  friends  feel  that 
your  presence  is  sunshine  and  that  you  come 
home,  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister. 

Go  out  to  give  more  light  in  your  community, 
to  elevate  its  standards,  to  purify  its  tastes,  to  be 
foremost  in  every  good  work. 

Go  out  to  take  your  places  as  educated  Chris- 
tian women  in  the  churches  to  which  you  belong, 
showing  to  all  that  your  advantages  have  rendered 
you  less  selfish  and  more  efficient  in  every  depart- 
ment of  endeavor. 

No  greater  privilege,  no  greater  responsibility 
ever  comes  to  any  man  or  woman  than  to  have  a 
part  in  the  development  of  a  soul  and  its  prepara- 
tion for  time  and  eternity.  We  thank  God  daily 
that  he  has  permitted  us  such  an  honor  with 
respect  to  you. 

For  several  years  we  have  entered  into  your 
lives;  we  have  rejoiced  in  your  successes;  we  have 
sympathized  in  your  sorrows;  we  have  tried  to 
assist  you  in  your  weakness  and  your  stumbling; 
and   we   have   been   happy   at   every   evidence   of 

75 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

growing  strength  and  womanliness,  as  you  have 
developed  from  girls  to  women. 

We  therefore  speak  these  last  words  to  you  out 
of  a  full  heart.  You  are  leaving  us,  and  we  feel 
like  parents  whose  children  are  leaving  home.  Our 
hearts  will  follow  you,  and  we  trust  that  wherever 
you  are  your  hearts  will  often  turn  in  loving  re- 
membrance to  your  old  college  home  and  friends. 

The  future  is  always  uncertain ;  but  we  may  be 
sure  that  there  will  be  shadow  as  well  as  sunshine, 
sorrow  as  well  as  joy,  disappointment  as  well  as 
realization  of  high  hopes. 

But  let  not  your  hearts  be  troubled,  for  in  all 
these  vicissitudes  God's  love  is  certain  and  will 
never  fail. 

"We  know  not  where  His  islands  lift 
Their  fronded  palms  in  air, 
We  only  know  we  cannot  drift 
Beyond  His  love  and  care." 

We  pray  that  you  may  be  conscious  of  His 
presence;  that  your  faith  may  never  fail;  that  all. 
the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  may  be  more  fully  manifest 
in  your  lives  from  year  to  year,  and  that  your 
pathway  may  be  like  that  of  the  just,  shining  more 
and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 


76 


1902 
Baccalaureate  Service 

(.RACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  25,    I902,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Theodore  Kemp,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH 

Text — Philippians  4.  11.  "Not  that  I  speak 
in  respect  of  want,  for  I  have  learned,  in 
whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith  to  be 
content." 


COMMENCEMENT   EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,    MAY   27,    I902,    2.3O   P.  M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Camden  M.  Cobern,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  ST.  JAMES  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  CHICAGO, 

ILL. 


Class  of  1902 

(With    1  9  1  8    addresses) 

Achenbach,   Jessie    Margaret    (Mrs.    Edgar   Zeno   Curnutt), 
Carrollton,  Illinois. 

Anderson,  Hettie  (Mrs.  James  T.  Wilson),  Kinderhook,  Illi- 
nois. 

Blackburn,  Ella  Garfield,  R.  R.  7,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

*Correll,  Josephine  (Mrs.  Robert  Fletcher). 

De  Frates,  Rifena  Edna  (Mrs.  J.  Ross  Curtis),  618  Wood- 
land Avenue,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Dudley,  Mary  Ethel  (Mrs.  Paul  D.  Cooper),  R.  F.  D.,  Ham- 
mond, Illinois. 

Dyer,  Beulah  Pearl,  717  South  Diamond  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Franke,  Clara  Belle  (Mrs.  H.  O.  Smith),  Newton,  Illinois. 

Hale,   Nina   Louise   (Mrs.   Sidney  Lee  Smith),   Roodhouse, 
Illinois. 

Harmon,  Grace  Margaret,  516  East  College  Avenue,  Jack- 
sonville. 

Huckeby,    Minnie    Elma    (Mrs.    Arthur    Frederick   Ewart), 
White  Hall,  Illinois. 

Huckeby,  Tessa  Inez,  846  West  State  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Kinne,  Irene  Adele  (Mrs.  Davis),  Highland,  Illinois. 

Mathers,    Elizabeth    Tucker    (Mrs.    Wm.    Gobel),    Duncan 
Place,  Jacksonville. 

Moore,  Maude  Hoskinson  (Mrs.  Albert  Martin), 

Musgrove,   Ellen   Corinne,   720   Holgate  Avenue,    Defiance, 
Ohio. 

Onken,   Fannie   Marie   (Mrs.   S.    Edgar  Watkins),   Tallula, 
Illinois. 

Patton,  Pauline  Elizabeth,  Fergus,  Montana. 

Phillippe,  Olive  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  C.  H.  Strawbridge),  Elm- 
hurst,  Illinois. 

Read,  Ethel  Waive  (Mrs.  Thomas  Emerson  Kirby). 

79 


Shuff,  Estelle  Mae  (Mrs.  James  Mahon),  R.  F.  D.,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Shuff,  Flora  Cyron  (Mrs.  Edward  W.  Newman),  1810  South 
Fourth  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Stevenson,  Anne  Luise,  1050  West  College  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville. 

Tanner,  E vesta  Gertrude  (Mrs.  S.  W.  Day),  R.  R.  1.,  Alex- 
andria, Louisiana. 

Wakely,  France  R.,  255  Caldwell  Street,  Jacksonville. 


80 


Building  According  to  God's  Plan 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1902: 

These  are  days  you  will  remember  as  long  as 
you  live.  You  have  looked  forward  to  this  time 
for  several  years,  and  you  have  reached  this  place 
of  honor  by  a  steady  and  continuous  course  of 
work,  pursued  with  patience  and  with  persever- 
ance. 

You  are  of  the  number  who  have  continued  to 
the  end — for  whom,  and  for  whom  alone,  the 
crowns  are  reserved.  We  are  glad  this  morning 
to  greet  you  as  worthy  wearers  of  the  laurel  crown. 

There  are  many  things  in  the  life  of  a  president 
of  a  college  like  this,  with  its  many,  many  needs, 
and  its  loads  of  care  and  responsibility,  which 
makes  the  position  anything  but  enviable. 

But  I  am  ready  to  say  that  the  pleasure  de- 
rived from  sharing  with  each  class  the  success  of 
their  achievements,  from  watching  your  develop- 
ment from  girls  to  women,  your  growth  in  mental 
power,  in  force  of  character,  in  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose, in  Christian  thoughtfulness — the  joy  of  these 
developments,  and  of  thus  entering  into  your  lives 
for  good,   to  me  makes  every  burden  light,  and 

81 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

makes  me  feel  that  I  would  rather  be  your  presi- 
dent than  have  any  other  work  in  the  world. 

My  dear  girls,  my  heart  has  followed  you 
through  these  years!  I  have  longed,  above  all 
things,  for  the  development  in  you  of  true  woman- 
liness. You  will  soon  forget  most  of  your  studies; 
what  you  have  will  change  with  your  environ- 
ments; but  what  you  are,  what  you  have  come  to 
be — this  will  remain. 

I  always  feel  that  these  few  final  words  to  a 
class  may  be  remembered  by  them  when  many 
other  words  are  forgotten.  I,  therefore,  wish  to 
make  them  very  definite,  and  to  give  a  special 
message  to  each  class.  I  believe  that  I  have  such 
a  message  for  you  that  is  especially  appropriate. 

You  have  been  preeminently  my  "  building 
class."  Your  years  in  college  have  been  coincident 
with  the  most  marked  period  of  growth  and  de- 
velopment in  the  history  of  the  school.  Your 
freshman  year  witnessed  the  change  of  name  to 
Woman's  College  and  the  foundation  laid  of  the 
new  east  wing.  Your  sophomore  year  saw  the 
addition  of  the  old  Lurton  property.  You  as- 
sisted in  digging  out  the  "For  Sale"  sign,  and  you 
saw  the  ground  broken  for  the  new  west  wing. 
Your  junior  year  saw  the  enlargement  of  the  heat- 
ing plant;  and  you  have  recently,  as  seniors,  dec- 

82 


T. ACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

orated  with  your  colors  the  historic  spade,  and 
joined  in  its  use  in  breaking  ground  for  another 
large  addition  to  the  building. 

You  are  my  "building  class." 

What,  then,  is  the  motto  I  want  you  to  carry 
away  with  you?  It  is  one  which  has  been  on  my 
heart  all  these  years,  and  I  speak  these  words  to 
myself  as  well  as  to  you:  "Except  the  Lord  build 
the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it." 

To  be  permanently  successful,  all  our  doing 
must  be  begun,  continued,  and  ended  in  Him. 
It  is  vain  for  us  to  rise  up  early  and  sit  up  late,  to 
eat  the  bread  of  anxiety  and  care,  if  God  is  not 
a  partner  with  us  in  our  work.  If  the  Lord  is  not 
building  the  Woman's  College,  we  are  laboring  in 
vain  in  its  building.  But  the  college  was  founded 
in  prayer  and  faith;  its  corner-stone  was  laid  for 
His  glory;  and  every  conception,  and  every  effort 
in  its  growth  and  upbuilding  has  been  with  prayer 
for  His  guidance,  and  with  unwavering  faith  in 
His  presence  and  His  blessing. 

Now,  join  me  this  morning  in  adopting  this 
motto  for  your  individual  lives.  You  are  builders; 
you  have  been  laying  the  foundations — the  future 
will  bring  you  the  materials  for  the  upbuilding  of 
your  house;  do  not  believe  that  you  can  build  it 
alone.     Testing  days  will  come  to  you  all,  sooner 

83 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

or  later ;  the  fire  will  try  each  of  your  work  of  what 
sort  it  is;  the  foundations  of  God  alone  standeth 
sure,  and  only  the  superstructure  that  follows  his 
plan  will  abide. 

Unless  the  Lord  build  your  house  you  will  labor 
in  vain  in  its  upbuilding. 

It  is  cause  for  devout  thanksgiving  that  many 
of  you  have  already  given  your  lives  into  God's 
keeping.  If  there  is  one  who  has  not,  will  she  join 
us  in  this  consecration  this  morning,  so  that  we 
may  all  make  our  lives  God's  temple,  and  as  an 
unbroken  class  unite  in  the  prayer: 

"Enter  thy  temple,  glorious  King! 

And  write  thy  name  upon  its  shrine, 
Thy  peace  to  shed,  thy  joy  to  bring, 
And  seal  its  courts  forever  thine." 


84 


1903 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  31,    I903,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  H.  H.  O'Neal,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH 

Text — Mark  8.  35.     "Whosoever  will  lose  his 
life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  3,    I9O3,  2.3O  P.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Joseph  F.  Berry,  D.D. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  EPWORTH  HERALD,  CHICAGO,   ILL. 


Class  of  1903 

(With    1918    addresses) 

Barlow,  Mabel  Sophia  (Mrs.  W.  I.  Carolus),  Industry,  Illi- 
nois. 

*Capps,  Elizabeth. 

Clark,  Leta. 

Craig,  Ethel  Magdalene,  Box  324,  Houston  Heights,  Texas. 

Davis,  Sara  Mabelle  (Mrs.  Henry  Arthur  Foreman),  Pitts- 
field,  Illinois. 

De  Castro,  Eleanor,  830  North  Prairie  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Dunlap,  Nellie  Fay  (Mrs.  Fred  Beggs),  131  Webster  Avenue, 
Jacksonville. 

Fackt,  Amy  Margaret,  Simmons  College,  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts.    Summer  address,  Mascoutah,  Illinois. 

Harker,  Elizabeth  Belle  (Mrs.  Wallace  Riddle),  2578  Buena 
Vista  Way,  Berkeley,  California. 

Joy,  Edith  Loraine  (Mrs.  Chester  P.  Joy),  527  Gilmore  Street, 
Peterboro,  Ontario,  Canada. 

Lyon,  Flora  Eugenia,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

McCullough,  Lillian  R.,  310  East  College  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville. 

Moore,  Louise  Eldridge  (Mrs.  Menzes  E.  Gilbert),  603  South 
Prairie  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Musgrove,   Ellen   Corinne,   720   Holgate  Avenue,   Defiance, 
Ohio. 

Read,  Edna  Pearl  (Mrs.  R.  N.  Striplin),  Corinth,  Mississippi. 

Stevens,  Delia  Alice,  4940  Prairie  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Stout,  Edna  May,  946  North  Church  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Thompson,   Mary   Ruddick   (Mrs.   Charles  Arthur  Carriel), 
Bayfield,  Wisconsin. 

Triplett,  Sarah  Emily,  831  West  Waldo  Avenue,  Independ- 
ence, Missouri. 

Wylder,  Ethel,  North  Church  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

87 


Yearning  for  Service 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1903: 

Another  school  year  has  rolled  away,  and  we 
come  again  to  the  closing  hours  of  the  year's  work 
and  opportunity.  For  you  it  means  not  only  the 
close  of  a  school  year,  but  the  completion  of  the 
school  course — the  end  of  the  work  on  which  you 
have  been  engaged  for  several  years.  You  have 
done  good  work,  you  have  finished  the  course,  and 
now  come  the  honors  of  the  school,  the  congrat- 
ulations of  your  friends,  the  "well  done"  of  your 
teachers,  and  your  entering  into  our  joy. 

You  are  thinking  of  this  occasion  as  the  end  of 
your  work,  and  the  beginning  of  a  rest.  I  think 
of  it  for  you  as  the  beginning  of  a  different  and 
larger  work.  To  those  of  us  who  have  experience 
of  life  it  is  not  strange  that  this  apparent  ending 
should  be  called  a  "commencement."  Your  prob- 
ability of  success  in  life  can  be  measured  by  this 
test:  is  this  occasion  the  end  of  continuous  striving? 
are  you  glad  to  have  finished?  and  will  you  now 
sit  down?  or  have  you  just  been  getting  ready,  and 
are  now  equipped  and  eager  to  begin  some  larger, 
higher,  harder  service? 

In   saying  these  last  words  to  my  class  each 
89 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

year,  I  always  have  the  feeling  that  I  am  talking 
not  only  to  them,  but  also  to  myself.  I  seem  to 
be  one  with  you.  It  is  not  you ;  it  is  we.  We  have 
lived  together;  we  have  hoped  together;  we  have 
worked  together;  we  have  finished  this  task  to- 
gether. And  together  we  look  out  into  the  future, 
and  gather  strength  and  inspiration  for  the  coming 
tasks. 

I  believe  this  feeling  is  stronger  this  year  than 
in  any  former  year;  and  for  myself  this  is,  in  a 
peculiar  case,  a  completion  of  a  given  course  and 
a  commencement  occasion. 

In  agreement  with  the  trustees,  in  1893  I  took 
charge  of  the  college  for  a  term  of  ten  years.  This 
is  the  end  of  that  course — the  completion  of  my 
appointed  work;  and  so,  with  you  looking  back 
upon  a  task  accomplished,  I  also  face  the  future, 
and  ask  for  the  same  word  of  guidance  for  myself 
that  may  seem  best  for  you. 

And  I  believe  that  the  best  thing  I  can  do  this 
morning  is  to  ask  you  to  join  me  in  the  prayer  that 
has  been  on  my  heart  during  all  these  years.  It  is 
part  of  the  prayer  of  the  Psalmist  in  the  90th 
Psalm:  "Let  thy  work  appear  unto  thy  servants." 
It  is  the  first  prayer  that  came  to  the  lips  of  the 
apostle  Paul  when  Christ  got  hold  of  him  on  the 
way  to  Damascus:    "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 

90 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

me  to  do?"  I  am  satisfied  that  we  have  nothing 
to  do  with  rest  here,  but  only  with  labor.  It  was 
always  the  spirit  of  the  Master.  His  first  recorded 
utterance  gave  expression  to  this  very  thought: 
"Know  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's 
business?"  "My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I 
work." 

I  do  not  desire  for  myself,  I  do  not  desire  for 
any  of  you,  an  easy  time.  We  have  had  this  period 
of  preparation  that  we  may  from  now  on  do  more 
work  and  better.  Lift  up  your  eyes  and  see  the 
fields  on  every  side  white  already  to  harvest.  We 
are  young,  and  we  are  strong;  we  are  willing,  and 
brave,  and  ready.  Join  me  in  the  prayer:  "Lord, 
let  thy  work  appear  unto  thy  servants."  May 
God  show  to  all  of  us  our  future  work,  leading  us 
to  it,  helping  us  to  enter  upon  it  with  joyful  energy, 
and  directing  us  in  the  doing  of  it!  Life  will  be  very 
full  of  happiness  to  us  if  we  can  always  be  assured 
that  the  work  we  are  doing  is  God-appointed. 

And  let  us  not  be  too  eager  to  see  the  results  of 
our  labor.  We  shall  be  very  wise  if  we  can  add  to 
our  prayer:  "And  let  thy  glory  appear  unto  their 
children."  The  results  of  little,  trivial,  insignificant 
tasks  may  be  seen  early.  But  O  that  God  may 
honor  us  by  putting  us  at  some  work  that  requires 
long  years  for  its  completion:  the  weaving  of  some 

91 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

intricate  pattern ;  the  building  of  some  magnificent 
temple,  the  work  of  which  will  engage  all  our 
years;  and  the  glory  of  which  shall  appear  more 
fully  to  our  children  for  many  generations!  "Let 
thy  work  appear  unto  thy  servants,  and  thy  glory 
unto  their  children.  And  let  the  beauty  of  the 
Lord  our  God  be  upon  us,  and  establish  thou  the 
work  of  our  hands  upon  us.  Yea,  the  work  of  our 
hands,  establish  thou  it." 

This  is  my  prayer  for  myself  and  you — the 
honor  of  work,  continuous  work,  increasing  work, 
work  whose  glory  shines  into  the  coming  genera- 
tions. The  adornment  of  God's  own  beauty,  the 
beauty  of  holiness — clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart 
— so  that  we  shall  ever  be  privileged  to  ascend 
unto  the  hill  of  the  Lord,  and  so  that  the  vision  of 
God  may  never  be  obscured.  And  lastly,  the  seal 
of  God's  everlasting  approval  upon  our  work  by 
establishing  it,  and  making  it  permanent.  Work 
that  we  do  of  our  own  strength  shall  soon  be  swept 
away:  the  fire  shall  devour  it;  the  flood  shall  over- 
whelm it;  but,  when  in  our  work  our  feeble  hands 
touch  the  hand  that  is  omnipotent,  when  He  es- 
tablishes the  work  of  our  hands,  then  do  we  know 
we  are  building  both  for  time  and  for  eternity. 
May  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon  us, 
and  may  all  our  work  be  forever  established ! 

92 


1904 

Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  MAY  29,    I904,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  A.  L.  T.  Ewert 

PASTOR  OF  CENTENARY  CHURCH 

Text — 1  Timothy  4.  8.  "But  godliness  is 
profitable  unto  all  things,  having  promise 
of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is 
to  come." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,  MAY  31,   I904,   2.3O  P.   M. 

Address  by  Bishop  Charles  D.  Galloway,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

OF  JACKSON,   MISSISSIPPI 


Class  of  1904 

(With    1918   addresses) 

De  Motte,  Frances  (Mrs.  Albert  R.  Archibald),  Pentecostal 
College,  North  Scituate,  Rhode  Island. 

Balcke,    Flora    (Mrs.    Irving    M.    Weimer),    422    Catherine 
Street,  Pekin,  Illinois. 

*Ball,  Ellen  Gertrude  (Mrs.  Gasper  Stockton). 

Batz,   Lillian   (Mrs.   Robert  Stice),   Cherry  Apts.,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Birch,   Helen   Hargrave   (Mrs.    Elbert   Hugh   Filson),  West 
Greenwood  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Briggs,  Alice  (Mrs.  Thomas  V.  Hopper),  859  Grove  Street, 
Jacksonville. 

Brown,  Mattie  Muriel  (Mrs.  Frank  Crum  Dinwiddie),  Liter- 
berry,  Illinois. 

Bullard,  Emma  M.  (Mrs.  Charles  Clark  Ellington),  Buffalo, 
Illinois. 

Bullard,  Jessie  May  (Mrs.  Eugene  W.  Fremaux),  Alexandria, 
Louisiana. 

Deatherage,    Mattie    Ellen,    Waverly,    Illinois. 

Filson,  Edna  Justina,  Concord,  Illinois. 

Hatch,  Ethel  Blanche  (Mrs.  Wm.  S.  Sanford),  1420  Fourth 
Avenue  N.,  Great  Falls,  Montana. 

Kienzle,  Edna  Sophia  (Mrs.  T.  H.  Davis),  R.  R.  1,  Weston, 
Ohio. 

Mathis,  Olive  Mae,  Sidney,  Illinois. 

Miller,  Mabel  Elizabeth. 

Ogram,  Bertha  Ethel  (Mrs.  Homer  Potter),  112  Park  Street, 
Jacksonville. 

Palmer,  Winifred  Martha   (Mrs.  Sidney  Paul  Jones),   1529 
South  Main  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Ross,  Ella  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Sigurdur  B.  Erickson),  Minneota, 
Minnesota. 

95 


Russell,  Elizabeth  Rossmund,  159  Caldwell  Street,  Jackson- 
ville. 

Scott,  Emma  Gertrude  (Mrs.  Robert  Raper  Jennings),  203 
Spring  Street,  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

*Seymour,  Mae  Melinda  (Mrs.  J.  Hardin  Wheeler). 

Smith,  Lula  Mae,  931  South  East  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Stark,  Hortense  Quindara  (Mrs.  Daniel  D.  Roberts),  Nash, 
Oklahoma. 

Stivers,  Etna  Hope  (Mrs.  W.  Edward  Dwyer). 

Thompson,  Martha  Mae  (Mrs.  J.  N.  McElvain),  Girard, 
Illinois. 

*Timmons,  Helen  Mary  (Mrs.  John  Wetherton  Dighton). 

Todd,  M.  Bertha  (Mrs.  Charles  E.  Odell),  1204  Lafayette 
Avenue,  Mattoon,  Illinois. 

Turner,  Bessie  Roberts,  Sioux  City,  Iowa. 

Vandine,  Jessie  Maude  (Mrs.  C.  E.  Douglas),  Newman, 
Illinois. 

Weber,  Edith,  Glenarm,  Illinois. 

White,  Anne  L.  (Mrs.  Arthur  B.  Meservey),  Hanover,  New 
Hampshire. 

Wilson,  Mabel  Pearl,  647  South  Washington  Avenue,  Denver, 
Colorado. 

Young,  Annie  Ayers  (Mrs.  Percy  A.  Jenkinson),  Apt.  4, 
"The  Kenesaw,"  10  West  Fourteenth  Street,  Min- 
neapolis, Minnesota. 

York,  Gertrude  Irene,  Agnes  Scott  College,  Decatur,  Georgia. 


96 


We  Cannot  Be  Our  Oxvn  Masters 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1904: 

Exactly  what  it  means  to  graduate  from  a  col- 
lege is  a  difficult  thing  to  say.  It  has  a  different 
meaning  in  every  individual  case.  But  for  each 
of  you  it  is  probably  safe  to  say  that  this  com- 
mencement occasion  is  one  of  the  important  epochs 
of  your  lives. 

Up  to  this  time  you  have  been  controlled  mainly 
by  others.  For  years  you  were  directly  under  the 
care  of  loving  parents,  who  made  for  you  your  en- 
vironment, showed  you  the  path  in  which  to  walk, 
repressed  you  here  and  encouraged  you  there. 
After  a  few  years  they  united  with  themselves 
teachers  to  assist  in  your  development  and  train- 
ing. For  several  of  these  later  years  they  have 
honored  us  with  more  or  less  complete  responsi- 
bility of  this  work. 

We  have  accepted  the  trust  from  them  and 
from  God  with  grateful  hearts  for  the  privilege. 
And  the  exercises  of  this  commencement  occasion 
are  our  public  and  formal  announcement  that  we 
have  finished  the  work  they  gave  us  to  do,  and  we 
are  now  returning  you  to  them  again. 

97 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

It  is  for  you,  apparently,  a  distinct  parting  of 
the  ways.  It  doubtless,  in  most  of  your  minds, 
seems  to  mean  the  stepping  out  from  a  condition 
of  discipline  and  control  to  one  of  freedom.  .  Hith- 
erto, as  I  have  said,  you  have  been  under  direction. 
Others  have  said  to  you,  "Go  or  come;  do  this  or 
that."  Now,  your  teachers  relinquish  their  author- 
ity, and  your  parents,  in  large  part,  will  cease  to 
command.:  It  looks  as  if  henceforth  you  are  to  be 
your  own  masters,  throwing  off  the  yoke  and  walk- 
ing where  you  will. 

But,  before  you  go,  I  would  like  to  say  a  word 
to  you,  which,  if  not  for  its  own  weight,  then  per- 
haps because  of  the  occasion,  you  may  remember 
as  long  as  you  live.  The  word  you  will  find  in 
Jeremiah,  10.  23:  "O  Lord,  I  know  that  the  way 
of  man  is  not  in  himself;  it  is  not  in  man  that 
walketh  to  direct  his  steps." 

It  is  a  happy  day  for  us  when  we  learn  the 
fundamental  truth  that  we  can  never  be  our  own 
masters.  Independence  is  a  dream,  and  nothing 
is  surer  than  that  if  you  insist  on  your  own  way 
you  will  soon  have  cause  to  regret  your  folly.  The 
real  truth  is  not  that  you  are  now  to  be  your  own 
masters,  but  simply  that  instead  of  having  your 
leaders    selected    by    parents    or    guardians,    you 

98 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

henceforth  have  the  responsibility  of  choosing 
them  for  yourselves. 

The  moment  you  think  yourselves  free,  and 
start  out  to  walk  alone,  you  will  hear  a  thousand 
voices  calling  in  as  many  directions — attracting, 
alluring,  insisting,  urging,  almost  compelling,  and 
you  will  stand  bewildered  in  the  babel. 

Which  voice  shall  you  follow?  Let  me  suggest. 
There  is  only  one  name  given,  only  one  Master, 
who  is  always  and  altogether  worthy  of  you.  At 
every  crossroad  of  your  lives  you  can  hear  him 
saying,  sweetly,  tenderly,  lovingly,  "Follow  me!" 
He  is  the  way. 

I  thank  God  this  morning  that  you  know  him, 
and  that  I  believe  you  can  sing  from  the  heart  the 
words  of  our  Quaker  poet: 

"O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all, 
Whate'er  our  name  or  sign, 
We  own  thy  sway,  we  hear  thy  call, 
To  test  our  lives  by  thine." 

What  he  is  we  must  endeavor  to  become.  The 
path  he  trod  we,  too,  must  try  to  wralk. 

It  is  significant  that  he  is  representing  the 
threefold  office  of  prophet,  priest,  and  king.  As 
he  came  to  his  crown  by  the  way  of  knowledge  and 
sacrifice,  so  we  are  taught  the  path  of  our  king- 

99 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

dom.  I  want  you  to  follow  him  in  all  these  rela- 
tions. You  have  begun  to  know.  By  dint  of 
study  for  several  years  you  have  gained  a  little 
entrance  to  the  halls  of  learning.  We  want  you 
to  go  on.  "Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts."  Be 
diligent  in  reading,  and  ever  keep  your  mind  alert 
to  receive  and  retain  new  treasures  of  knowledge 
in  many  directions,  so  that  you  may  be  ready  for 
any  of  the  world's  work  you  may  be  called  upon 
to  do. 

But  knowledge  alone  never  leads  to  the  king- 
dom. Before  you  can  be  crowned  you  must  take 
the  second  degree;  you  must  know  what  it  is  to 
enter  into  the  holy  of  holies;  coming  to  God  in 
priestly  office,  in  behalf  of  others,  and  sacrificing 
for  them.  The  mother  becomes  queen  of  the  home 
only  as  she  gives  herself  up  for  her  children.  The 
teacher  never  receives  his  crown  except  as  he  gives 
himself  up  for  his  pupils.  Whosoever  in  sacrifice 
gives  up  his  life,  the  same  receives  the  everlasting 
crown. 

The  apostle  Paul  had  sat  at  the  feet  of  the 
noted  Gamaliel,  and  was  greatly  learned;  but  he 
could  not  receive  his  crown  until  he  could  say, 
"  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered.  Moses  was  learned 
in  all  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians,  but  not  until 
he  could  pray  that  God  would  take  his  life  and 

100 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

spare  the  people  could  he  come  into  his  kingdom. 
It  was  not  the  brilliancy  and  learning  of  Frances 
Willard  that  made  her  the  queen  of  women  the 
wide  world  over,  but  the  fact  that  she  counted 
not  her  life  dear  unto  her  if  she  could  aid  in  any 
way  the  cause  of  God,  and  home,  and  native  land. 

There  is  a  crown  for  each  of  you.  But  you  will 
never  come  to  it  through  learning  alone,  even 
though  you  receive  all  the  degrees  of  all  the 
universities.  Do  you  really  wish  to  wear  it?  Then 
go  home  to  your  parents  and  show  them  that  you 
can,  for  them  and  for  the  others  of  your  family, 
forget  yourselves,  and  live  in  larger  measure  for 
them.  Go  out  to  your  duties  as  teachers,  and  show 
that  you  can  give  up  yourselves  for  the  advantage 
of  your  pupils.  Go  home  to  your  churches  and 
communities,  and  prove  that  you  have  received 
the  inspiration  of  college  life,  not  simply  to  en- 
large yourselves,  or  to  improve  and  develop  your 
own  lives,  but  so  that  you  can  more  fully  give 
yourself  to  church  or  community  for  the  enlarge- 
ment and  upbuilding  of  others. 

This  is  the  way  the  Master  goes.  In  this  path 
of  knowledge  and  sacrifice  he  walks  before  you 
always.  Happy  will  you  be  if  you  turn  from  us  as 
teachers  and  guides,  and  with  full  purpose  of 
heart,   in   full   freedom  of  your  own   choice,   you 

101 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

select  him  henceforth  as  your  Lord.  He  will  lead 
you  into  all  truth;  but,  better  still,  he  will  lead 
you  into  all  sacrifice,  and  through  this  self-surrender 
he  will  lead  you  into  your  kingdom,  and  will  him- 
self place  the  many-starred  crown  upon  your  head. 
May  God  grant  this  happy  consummation  of 
life's  journey  to  every  one  of  you!    Amen! 


1 02 


1905 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  MAY  28,   I905,   7.45   P.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Musgrove,  D.D. 

PASTOR  BROOKLYN  CHURCH 

Text — John  8.  32.     "Ye  shall  know  the  truth, 
and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,  MAY  30,   I905,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Wm.  F.  Anderson,  D.D. 

SECRETARY  OF  THE   BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  OF  THE  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,   NEW  YORK 


Class  of  1905 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Berryman,  Golden  Ethel  (Mrs.  Ralph  O.  Von  Thurn),  Cali- 
fornia Courts,  Apt.  "F,"  143  Tenth  Street,  Tulsa, 
Oklahoma. 

Brady,  Olive  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Egbert  W.  Fell),  397  Elm 
Street,  Elgin,  Illinois. 

Brown,  Mary  Lucile  (Mrs.  Don  V.  Buchanan),  Hillsdale, 
Michigan. 

Burns,  Mabel  Margaret  (Mrs.  G.  C.  Rowen),  Pine  Village, 
Indiana. 

Carter,  Cuba  Minerva,  Hardin,  Illinois. 

Clayton,  Fay  Sharrer  (Mrs.  Firman  Thompson),  Chicago. 

Dowell,  Linnie  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  David  M.  Logan),  Menard, 
Illinois. 

Drake,  Nellie  Wetmore  (Mrs.  John  R.  McCanathy),  Rood- 
house,  Illinois. 

Ellsberry,  Leda  (Mrs.  J.  Bowdon  Bird),  2310  Poplar  Avenue, 
Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

Glick,  Olive  Grace  (Mrs.  R.  N.  Miller),  11416  Forest  Avenue, 
Chicago. 

Hale,  Nina  Louise  (Mrs.  Sidney  Lee  Smith),  Roodhouse, 
Illinois. 

Huckeby,  Minnie  Elma  (Mrs.  Arthur  Ewert),  White  Hall, 
Illinois. 

*Isaacson,  Caroline  C.  (Mrs.  Isaacson). 

Lohr,  Clara  Louise  (Mrs.  Hugh  Cameron),  Pana,  Illinois. 

Luken,  Carrie  Louise  (Mrs.  J.  Fred  Moeller),  Orleans,  Illinois. 

Lumsden,  Olive  Edna,  402  W.  Williams  Street,  Monticello, 
Illinois. 

Marshall,  Anne  McDowell,  Salem,  Illinois. 

Massey,  Edith  (Mrs.  Wiley),  Fredonia,  Kansas. 

105 


Mathers,  Elizabeth  Tucker  (Mrs.  William  Goebel),  Duncan 

Place,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Morrison,  Carrie  Marion  (Mrs.  Fred  J.  Angel),  119  N.  Ditman 

Street,  Los  Angeles,  California. 
Peck,  Mildred  Burdell  (Mrs.  William  Voelcker),  Cerro  Gordo, 

Illinois. 
Phillippe,  Edith  Harris,  500  W.  Church  Street,  Champaign, 

Illinois. 
Plowman,   Florence   Edith    (Mrs.  F.  E.   Boston),    Mayette, 

Kansas. 
Purviance,  Pearl  Trego  (Mrs.  W.  E.  Knox),  209  E.  Capitol 

Avenue,  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Rebhan,  Susan  Mattie,  25  W.  Rayen  Avenue,  Youngstown, 

Ohio. 
Scott,  Flora  Jeanette,  1521  Sixth  Avenue,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa. 
Shuff,   Mabel   Boynton   (Mrs.   Lester  T.   Pulliam),   1020  S. 

Seventh  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Standiford,  Lucy  Durham,  Onarga,  Illinois. 
Starkey,  Edna  Davis  (Mrs.  Otto  H.  Crist),   1302  E.  Main 

Street,  Danville,  Illinois. 
Stockdale,  L.  Blanche  (Mrs.  A.  E.  Walters),  621  S.  Walnut 

Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Taylor,  Nelle  Yates,  Berlin,  Illinois. 
Wadsworth,  Alice  Farrell   (Mrs.  Alpha  B.  Applebee),   13 15 

W.  College  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Wilson,  Mabel  Pearl,  647  South  Washington  Avenue,  Denver, 

Colorado. 
Wood,    Paula    Hamilton    (Mrs.    Ira    Curnutt),    Carrollton, 

Illinois. 
Work,    Merta    Holmes,    845    N.    Second    Avenue,    Phoenix, 

Arizona. 
Yarnell,  Lena  Seville,  Bowen,  Illinois. 


106 


Be  Ye  Doers,  Not  Learners  Only 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1905: 

My  conception  of  education  may  be  expressed 
in  two  words — inspiration  and  environment.  To 
breathe  into  the  student  a  new  life,  a  restless  long- 
ing to  be  more,  to  know  more,  to  do  more,  to  im- 
part a  vision  of  a  nobler,  a  larger,  a  fuller  life. 

This  is  the  first  great  business  of  the  teacher 
and  the  school. 

And  the  second  is  to  so  environ  the  student 
that  this  new  life  may  have  every  chance  to  grow, 
by  removing  every  influence  that  would  hurt  or 
retard  or  hinder  it,  and  by  introducing  every  in- 
fluence that  will  foster  it,  and  make  sure  that  it 
takes  possession  of  every  faculty  of  the  entire 
being. 

These  two  things  we  have  endeavored  to  do 
for  you  in  the  years  you  have  been  with  us — to 
inspire  you  with  a  purer  ideal  and  a  loftier  vision, 
to  make  you  feel  the  thrill  of  a  new  intellectual 
and  spiritual  life,  and  especially  to  unite  your  lives 
with  him  without  whom  we  can  do  nothing.  It 
has  also  been  our  care  to  so  arrange  your  environ- 
ment that  you  would  find  it  easy  to  live  this  higher 

107 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

life,  and  be  surrounded  by  only  the  most  helpful 
influences  for  its  development. 

Such  a  conception  of  education  makes  it  clear 
that  it  can  never  be  finished.  This  new  life  that 
has  come  to  you  should  grow  forever  and  forever. 
But  you  have  come  to  the  end  of  that  part  of  your 
educational  course  which  is  environed  by  the 
Woman's  College,  and  are  now  to  go  out  from  us 
to  continue  this  education  under  new  environ- 
ments. 

Before  you  go,  it  is  my  privilege  to  give  you  a 
final  charge.  If  ever  I  coveted  any  gift,  it  is  the 
ability  to  say  what  is  on  my  mind  and  heart  in 
such  a  way  that  you  will  not  forget  it. 

My  last  injunction  to  you  is  this — only  three 
words:  "Be  ye  doers."  There  are  so  many  who 
think  of  many  things,  but  never  do  them.  There 
are  so  many  who  dream  many  things,  but  never 
realize  them.  There  are  so  many  who  wish  and 
desire  and  hope,  but  they  never  translate  these 
longings  into  action. 

Remember  that  the  blessing  come  only  to 
those  who  do.  "Not  every  one  that  saith,  but  he 
that  doeth,"  our  Lord  tells  us  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  Only  those  that  do  his  command- 
ments have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life.  Among 
his  last  words  in  the  upper  room  are  these:  "If 

108 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them." 

In  sending  you  out,  I  have  no  fear  that  you  do 
not  know;  my  only  fear  is  that  you  will  not  do. 

We  are  sending  you  back  into  your  homes. 
You  know  enough  to  fill  these  homes  with  sweet- 
ness and  light;  to  make  the  hearts  of  your  parents, 
and  families,  and  friends  beam  with  new  gladness; 
to  lighten  the  burdens,  to  multiply  the  pleasures, 
to  share  the  sorrows  and  the  responsibilities.  You 
know  enough  to  make  your  home-going  and  your 
home-staying  the  gladdest  event  of  the  family 
history.     Will  you  do  it? 

We  are  sending  you  back  into  your  communities. 
You  know  enough  to  make  every  community  into 
which  you  go  feel  the  inspiration  and  help  which 
an  educated  and  refined  woman  should  always 
bring.  You  know  enough  to  be  in  sympathy  with 
every  movement  for  the  elevation  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  life  of  your  community,  to  be 
in  touch  with  it,  to  bring  some  measure  of  inspira- 
tion to  the  many  who  have  not  enjoyed  such  ad- 
vantages as  you  have  had,  and  to  secure  for  them, 
where  they  live,  a  more  helpful  and  hopeful  en- 
vironment. You  know  enough  for  this.  Will  you 
do  it? 

We  are  sending  you  back  into  your  home 
109 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

churches.  You  know  enough  to  make  the  whole 
church  membership  glad  that  you  have  been  to 
college,  and  that  you  are  home  again.  You  can 
help  the  prayer-meeting;  you  can  encourage  your 
pastor,  and  inspire  all  the  young  people  by  service 
and  leadership  in  the  Epworth  League  and  Chris- 
tian Endeavor.  You  know  enough  to  be  very 
helpful  in  the  Sunday  school;  you  can  help  to 
quicken  and  make  efficient  for  good  the  social  life, 
the  intellectual  life,  and  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
church. 

Will  you  do  these  things?  Or  will  you  go  home, 
glad  to  be  free  from  the  limitations  of  school  life, 
to  settle  into  useless  inactivity,  or  to  seek  for  mere 
personal  and  selfish  pleasure? 

Remember  that  you  are  debtors.  Some  young 
people  think  that  the  world  owes  them  everything. 
But  the  truth  is,  the  balance  is  on  the  other  side. 
You  are  debtors  to  your  parents  for  all  their  love 
and  care;  to  the  church  for  all  the  blessings  that 
come  through  its  helpful  ministry;  to  your  com- 
munity and  state  for  the  inestimable  advantages 
of  liberty  and  law,  and  social  and  political  privilege 
we  enjoy;  and  to  your  college  for  the  inspiration 
you  have  received,  the  protection  it  has  given  you 
from  hurtful  influences,  the  helpful  habits  it  has 
fostered    in   you,    the   delightful   associations   and 

no 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

friendships  it  has  made  possible  for  you.  To  all  of 
these  you  are  debtors.  Go  out  from  here  resolved 
that,  by  God's  help,  you  will,  to  the  best  of  your 
ability,  pay  back  full  measure  for  what  you  have 
received,  and  in  the  years  to  come  leave  something 
to  the  credit  of  your  account  for  those  who  may 
come  after  you. 

I  believe  that  the  coming  year  is  one  of  the 
most  critical  periods  of  your  lives,  for  it  will  largely 
decide  how  much  your  education  has  really  done 
for  you.  Up  to  this  time  you  have  improved  your 
talents,  and  we  take  pleasure  in  giving  you  this 
public  "well  done."  But  the  question  is  not  settled 
whether  you  have  done  it  because  the  spirit  of  the 
nobler  life  has  taken  possession  of  you,  or  because 
of  the  gentle  compulsion  of  parents  and  teachers, 
and  of  the  unusually  favorable  conditions  they 
have  arranged  for  you.  If  the  latter  is  true,  you 
will  go  home  and  begin  to  neglect  the  means  of 
intellectual  and  spiritual  growth,  and  settle  down 
into  the  indifferent  and  unambitious  life  of  the 
multitude.  Everybody  in  the  community  will 
wonder  what  good  it  has  done  you  to  go  to  college. 

But  if  indeed  you  have  caught  the  inspiration, 
if  the  higher  life  has  taken  possession  of  you,  each 
year  will  find  you  stronger  in  nobler  purposes,  and 
more  efficient  in  all  kinds  of  helpful  service,  and 

in 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

the  advantages  of  the  higher  education  will  have 
such  visible  illustration  in  your  community  as  to 
inspire  many  others  to  follow  your  example. 

In  this  full  confidence  we  send  you  forth  as 
representatives  of  the  Woman's  College,  believing 
and  trusting  that  you  will  honor  your  parents  and 
make  glad  your  homes,  and  inspire  and  purify 
your  communities,  and  strengthen  and  edify  your 
churches,  and  bring  credit  to  your  alma  mater. 

"And  the  God  of  peace  make  you  perfect  in 
every  good  work  to  do  his  will,  working  in  you 
that  which  is  well-pleasing  in  his  sight,  through 
Jesus  Christ!"     Amen! 


112 


1906 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  2J ,    I906,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  George  L.  Scrimger,  D.D. 

PRESIDING  ELDER  OF  THE  JACKSONVILLE  DISTRICT 

Text — Psalm  144.  12.  "That  our  sons  may 
be  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth;  that 
our  daughters  may  be  as  corner  stones, 
polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  AT  CENTENARY  CHURCH 
TUESDAY,    MAY   29,    I906,    10   A.    M. 

Address  by  Rev.  C.  B.  Spencer,  D.D. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  CENTRAL  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE,   KANSAS  CITY, 

MO. 


Class  of  1906 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Buckingham,  Elsie  Louise,  679  South  West  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Carter,  Cuba  Minerva,  Hardin,  Illinois. 

Cloyd,  Lura  Ethel,  Loami,  Illinois. 

Coe,  Mary  Greta,  Clayton,  Illinois. 

Coons,  Amy  Dora  (Mrs.  Wm.  Christian  Paul),  Woodson, 
Illinois. 

Cooper,  Sarah  Mabel  (Mrs.  Edward  C.  Teague),  Silex,  Mis- 
souri. 

Fackt,  Marie  Louise,  Mascoutah,  Illinois. 

Hegener,  Hilda  Ida,  Bluff  Springs,  Illinois. 

Hodgson,  Beulah  Rice,  Rushville,  Illinois. 

Holnback,  Nellie  Margaret,  Signal  Hill  Place,  Edgemont 
Station,  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois. 

Hughes,  Mary  (Mrs.  Frank  Kellogg  Page),  Newman,  Illinois. 

Ives,  Amy  Rosella  (Mrs.  Earl  Edwin  Rhodes),  Stuttgart, 
Arkansas. 

Lard,  Geneva  Fountain  (Mrs.  Louis  P.  Sheppard),  Pawnee, 
Illinois. 

Lessel,  Ruth,  Perry,  Iowa. 

McFadden,  Grace  H.  (Mrs.  Wm.  Ackerman  Gerol),  3204 
Collingwood  Avenue,  Toledo,  Ohio. 

Miller,  Nellie  (Mrs.  Fletcher  J.  Blackburn),  239  Caldwell 
Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Morgan,  Mary  Edith  (Mrs.  Edward  Bromley  Mayer),  933 
West  Fifty-third  Street,  Los  Angeles,  California. 

Postel,  Amelia  Jansen  (Mrs.  Geo.  Nicholas  Sauer),  Evans- 
ville,  Illinois. 

Ranson,  Zillah  Maud  (Mrs.  Ray  Campbell  Mitchell),  1800 
Cheyenne  Avenue,  Colorado  Springs,  Colorado. 

Robison,  Lora  M.  (Mrs.  Robert  Peters),  Stewardson,  Illinois. 

115 


Rucker,  Rosy  Garratt,  102  South  Pleasant  Street,  Independ- 
ence, Missouri. 

Scott,  Mae  Allison  (Mrs.  Arthur  Van  Winkle),  Franklin, 
Illinois. 

Scott,  Mary  Frances  (Mrs.  Harold  Huxtable),  1876  Lampson 
Road,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Scrimger,  Ruth  E.  (Mrs.  J.  Harry  Woods),  1142  East  Sixty- 
fourth  Street,  Chicago. 

Shuff,  Klabel  Boynton  (Mrs.  L.  T.  Pulliam),  1020  South 
Seventh  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

*Spitler,  Mary  Estelle  (Mrs.  Lawrence  Y.  Sherman). 

Stevens,  Maude  A.f  Century  Lyceum  Bureau,  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois. 

Swain,  Clara  Pearl,  Vermillion,  South  Dakota. 

Thackwray,  Gertrude  (Mrs.  Benjamin  H.  Matthews),  Pitts- 
field,  Illinois. 

Weber,  Mabel  (Mrs.  Joseph  M.  Frazee),  Glenarm,  Illinois. 

Woodward,  Lucile  M.  (Mrs.  W.  C.  Edwards),  Olney,  Illinois. 

Yenawine,  Luella  H.  (Mrs.  J.  V.  Rogers),  Hume,  Illinois. 


116 


The  Victory  That  Ov^ercometh,  Even  Tour 
Faith 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1906: 

This  is  the  process  of  education: 

What  you  learn  and  recite  must  be  transformed 
into  what  you  think  for  yourselves;  what  you  think 
must  be  assimilated  into  what  you  believe  and  feel, 
and  what  you  feel  must  be  worked  out  in  practical 
life.  Only  then  is  it  really  yours,  or  rather,  you. 
"As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  "Out 
of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life." 

There  is  no  privilege  of  the  college  presidency 
that  I  value  more  highly  than  this  of  saying  a 
final  word  to  each  succeeding  class.  Our  relations 
have  been  delightful  through  these  years,  and  the 
office  of  president  has  been  forgotten  in  the  pleasure 
of  being  a  personal  friend.  I  have  addressed  you 
often  on  many  subjects.  I  suppose  you  have  al- 
ready forgotten,  or  soon  will  forget,  most  of  what 
I  have  said.  But  I  am  not  greatly  concerned  about 
this,  for  I  know  that  the  things  in  your  college  life 
that  will  do  you  most  good  are  not  the  things  you 
remember  most  vividly.  The  real  gain  of  these 
years  is  the  character,  the  culture,  the  life  that 

117 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

remains  to  you  after  all  your  studies  and  my 
lectures  are  forgotten. 

My  final  word,  therefore,  is  one  that  relates, 
not  to  studies,  but  to  life.  It  is  an  appeal  to  you 
to  let  go  fear  and  doubt  as  a  habit  of  daily  life,  and 
to  walk  every  step  of  your  journey  in  the  full 
assurance  of  faith. 

I  want  you  in  everything  to  be  "overcomers." 
The  rewards  both  of  this  life  and  of  the  next  are 
promised  only  to  those  who  overcome.  "Now  this 
is  the  victory  that  overcometh,  even  your  faith." 

I  wish  I  could  make  you  feel  and  know  what 
faith  is. 

Faith  has  wonderful  eyes.  Nothing  is  ever 
hazy  or  indistinct  to  it.  It  sees  "him  who  is  in- 
visible," and  therefore  never  doubts.  It  sees  the 
glory  that  shall  be,  and  therefore  has  a  supreme 
contempt  for  "the  suffering  of  this  present  time." 
Moses  saw  the  Israelites  in  the  promised  land  be- 
fore ever  they  crossed  the  Red  Sea  or  set  foot  in 
the  wilderness.  Cyrus  Field  saw  the  Atlantic 
cable  long,  long  before  the  first  foot  of  wire  was 
made  for  it.  No  great  or  good  thing  has  ever  been 
accomplished  except  as  the  result  of  faith. 

Faith  is  not  desire:  it  is  the  actual  beforehand 
realization  of  desire.  It  is  not  hope:  it  is  the  very 
substance  of  things  hoped  for.     Not  their  shadows 

118 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

cast  before;  but,  mark  you,  their  very  substance. 
Faith  is  not  a  dream  or  vision  merely;  but,  won- 
derful paradox,  faith  is  the  actual  pre-seeing  of 
things  yet  invisible. 

Faith  is  not  all  eye,  as  some  seem  to  think.  It 
has  feet  and  hands.  It  is  not  dead,  but  vital.  It 
works.  Its  eyes  are  fixed  on  its  object,  and  its 
feet  move  irresistibly  towards  that  object.  Noth- 
ing hinders  it,  nothing  daunts  it.  It  laughs  at 
impossibilities,  and  cries,  "It  shall  be  done." 

Faith  has  visions,  but  is  not  visionary.  It  has 
the  power  of  imagining,  but  it  is  not  imaginary. 
With  its  hands  it  takes  hold  of  God's  almighty 
arm.  It  trusts  and  is  not  afraid.  Its  prayers  are 
always  heard. 

"Faith  cannot  be  unanswered, 

Its  feet  are  planted  on  the  solid  rock; 
Amid  the  wildest  storms  it  stands  undaunted, 
And  bears  unmoved  the  fiercest  thundershock." 

This  vital  faith  I  crave  for  you.  I  am  not 
talking  to  you  only  of  spiritual  things.  Of  course 
I  mean  that,  first  of  all,  have  saving  faith  in  God, 
and  in  our  Lord;  faith  which  enables  you  to  re- 
ceive him,  to  become  children  of  God,  heirs  of  God, 
and  joint  heirs  with  Jesus  Christ.  I  thank  God 
that  so  many  of  you  are  already  his,  and  I  pray 
most  of  all  for  this  for  every  one. 

119 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

But  I  want  you  to  have  this  faith  also  in  daily 
life.  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled  about  your- 
selves, or  your  work,  or  the  outcome  of  your 
ventures.  There  are  so  many  that  are  all  their 
lives  in  bondage  through  fear.  They  doubt  the 
outcome  of  every  enterprise.  They  are  well  now, 
but  they  will  soon  be  sick.  The  morning  dawns 
bright,  but  they  fear  it  will  rain  before  noon.  They 
have  come  thus  far  without  much  damage,  but 
something  will  surely  happen  before  long. 

Young  women,  it  shall  not  be  so  with  you. 
Hear  the  Master's  voice  so  often  saying,  "Why 
are  ye  so  fearful?"  "O  ye  of  little  faith.'"  Hear 
my  final  word,  urging  you  to  an  unfailing  optimism: 

"God's  in  His  heaven, 
All's  right  with  the  world." 

Of  course  there  are  giants  to  be  met  and  over- 
come; there  are  lions  in  the  way;  there  are  walled 
cities  to  be  taken.  But  you  can  do  it.  You  can  go 
up  and  possess  the  land.    You  are  well  able. 

"Be  strong! 
You  are  not  here  to  play,  to  dream,  to  drift, 
You  have  hard  work  to  do,  and  loads  to  lift; 
Shun  not  the  struggle,  face  it,  'tis  God's  gift. 
Be  strong,  be  strong,  be  strong!" 

And  how  shall  you  be  strong? 
It  shall  be  unto  you  "according  to  your  faith." 
120 


1907 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENNARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  MAY  26,   I907,  7.3O  P.  M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Merle  N.  English 

PASTOR  OF  CENTENARY  CHURCH 

Text — 1    Corinthians   3.    9.      "Ye   are   God's 
building." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  THE   NEW  COLLEGE  CHAPEL   IN 

MUSIC  HALL 

WEDNESDAY,  MAY  29,   I907 

Address  by  Rev.  T.  P.  Frost,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
EVANSTON,  ILL. 


Class  of  1907 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Ainsworth,  Olive,  Watseka,  Illinois. 

Asplund,  Esther  Marie  (Mrs.  Frank  Rucker),  819  North  Lib- 
erty Street,  Independence,  Missouri. 

Campbell,  Hortense  Eubanks  (Mrs.  Wm.  A.  Gore),  450  Fair- 
view  Avenue,  Webster  Grove,  Missouri. 

Fuller,  Mabel  B.,  Easton,  Illinois. 

Hopper,  Eunice,  641  South  Diamond  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Huckeby,  Tessa  Inez,  846  West  State  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Huss,  Olive  Grace,  520  North  West  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illi- 
nois. 

Larimore,  L.  Myrtle,  691  East  State  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

McCune,  Clara  Ethel  (Mrs.  Arnold  B.  Korb),  716  West 
Armstrong  Street,  Peoria,  Illinois. 

Miller,  Mabel  Elizabeth. 

Morgan,  Besse  C. 

Sidell,  Rosalie,  Sidell,  Illinois. 

Thackwray,  Gertrude  (Mrs.  Benjamin  H.  Matthews),  Pitts- 
field,  Illinois. 


23 


The  Master  Key  of  Life 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1907: 

After  the  inspiring  sermon  to  which  you  have 
just  listened,  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should 
make  you  a  long  address.  But  I  always  rejoice  in 
the  privilege  of  the  final  word,  as  each  class  comes 
up  to  the  commencement  occasion,  and  I  always 
endeavor  to  improve  the  opportunity,  not  by 
teaching  a  new  lesson,  but  by  enforcing  and  em- 
phasizing some  vital  principle  which  it  has  been 
our  aim  to  impart  to  you  throughout  your  college 
life. 

It  always  seems  strange,  on  first  thought,  that 
the  closing  of  your  college  life  should  be  called 
your  "commencement."  But  there  is  really  a 
great  propriety  in  the  word,  and  a  deep  philosophy 
underlying  its  use  in  this  connection. 

There  is  as  yet,  indeed  there  never  will  be,  a 
final  end  of  anything.  We  come  to  the  ends  of 
days,  or  of  periods;  we  reach  the  end  of  a  school 
year,  or  of  a  school  course;  or  of  an  enterprise  on 
which  our  hearts  are  set.  But  in  truth,  the  end  of 
any  such  day,  or  period,  or  year,  or  course,  is  at 
the  same  time  the  beginning  of  another.    And  the 

125 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

most  important  fact  is  not  that  of  the  ending,  but 
that  of  the  beginning. 

The  whole  philosophy  of  a  noble  life  is  involved 
in  this  truth.  To  see  only  the  ending  in  any  event 
or  period  in  your  lives  means  to  cease  action,  to 
smother  inspiration,  and  to  be  satisfied  with  present 
attainment.  Nearly  all  the  failures  of  college 
graduates  come  because,  for  them,  their  commence- 
ment was  not,  as  it  ought  to  be,  a  "  beginning." 
They  thanked  God  that  they  had  now  reached  the 
"ending,"  and  they  settled  down  to  enjoyment  of 
the  past,  as  though  the  whole  matter  were  com- 
pleted. 

But  for  you,  young  women,  let  it  not  be  so. 
Look  upon  this  ending  of  your  college  course  as 
in  reality  the  beginning  of  a  life  of  larger  oppor- 
tunity. You  have  been  faithful  over  a  few  things, 
let  the  Master  now  be  free  to  make  you  ruler  over 
more.     Face  the  front. 

"Seek  the  things  before  you,  not  a  look  behind." 

"Set  your  whole  heart  to  endeavor, 
Turn  your  soul  to  yon  bright  star." 

It  surely  is  no  mere  coincidence  that  the  first 
words  of  the  Bible  are: 

"In  the  beginning,  God." 

These  are  the  words  I  want  to  impress  on  you. 
126 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

This  is  a  great  beginning  for  you.  You  will  count 
most  of  the  events  of  your  life  from  this  date.  In 
this  beginning  be  sure,  above  all  other  things,  that 
he  is  with  you.  You  are  rightly  counting  on  many 
factors  for  success  in  life.  You  have  youth,  and 
health,  and  trained  ability.  You  have  friends. 
You  have  ambition  and  determination  and  per- 
severance. All  good,  very  good.  These  are,  each 
of  them,  a  key  that  will  unlock  many  doors  of  life's 
great  buildings.  But  let  me  tell  you,  young  women, 
there  is  one  Master  Key  of  life  that  of  itself  will 
unlock  every  door  that  you  will  ever  need  to  open, 
and  that  Master  Key  is  the  conscious  presence  of 
God  himself  in  every  detail  of  your  daily  life. 

As  this  is  the  first  truth  uttered  in  God's  rev- 
elation to  us,  so  it  is  the  central  truth  illustrated 
on  every  page,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation.  You 
have  just  been  reading  the  story  of  Joseph.  What 
was  the  secret  of  his  success?  Again  and  again  the 
answer  comes,  "The  Lord  was  with  Joseph."  And 
so  he  has  been  with  all  whose  lives  have  been  worthy 
in  all  the  generations.  And  when  our  Saviour 
sends  out  his  disciples  with  the  great  commission 
to  go  into  all  the  world  and  open  every  door  of 
opportunity  for  the  complete  salvation  of  every 
creature,  he  puts  into  their  hands  this  same  Master 
Key:  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  always!" 

127 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

This  is  the  greatest  truth  of  human  life.  With- 
out God  you  can  do  nothing.  "Except  the  Lord 
build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it." 
But  with  him,  like  Paul,  you  can  do  all  things. 

And  the  lesson  of  all  others  we  have  been  trying 
to  teach  you  in  your  years  at  the  Illinois  Woman's 
College  is  this  wonderful  truth  that  God's  conscious 
personal  presence  in  your  daily  life  is  your  pos- 
sibility and  privilege.  You  can  have  this  Master 
Key  for  the  asking. 

Let  us  all,  here  and  now,  both  you  and  me  to- 
gether, commit  our  way  unto  him,  and  ask  him 
to  walk  with  us  every  step  of  the  whole  journey. 


128 


1908 
Baccalaureate  Service 

COLLEGE  CHAPEL  IN  MUSIC  HALL 
SUNDAY,  MAY  31,    I908,  3   P.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Joseph  C.  Nate,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH 

Text — Joshua  5.  12.  "And  the  manna  ceased 
on  the  morrow  after  they  had  eaten  of  the 
old  corn  of  the  land;  neither  had  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  manna  any  more;  but  they 
did  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  land  of  Canaan 
that  year." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
TUESDAY,  JUNE  2,    I908,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  E.  B.  Crawford,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  WOODLAWN  AVENUE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
CHICAGO,   ILL. 


Class  of  1908 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Buchholz,  Ada  Lorana,  4304  North  Lincoln  Street,  Chicago, 
Illinois. 

Colean,  Helen  Louise  (Mrs.  Isaac  Sherwood  Powers),  "The 
Walden,"  Apt.  5,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 

Conley,  Edith  Alice,  Newport,  Indiana. 

*Corbett,  Hortense  (Mrs.  Frank  B.  Sanders). 

Crum,  Rena  Frances  (Mrs.  Harry  Watson  Sinclair),  Virginia, 
Illinois. 

Doht,  Sadie  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  N.  Gust  Hartburg),  Marinette, 
Wisconsin. 

Everhart,  Louise   (Mrs.   Paul   B.   Brewer),  907  East  Sixty- 
first  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Forwell,  Lida   (Mrs.  John  Rule  Porter),  407  South  Evans 
Street,  Bloomington. 

Graff,  Lulu  Fairee,  285  Sandusky  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Harker,  Jennie  May  (Mrs.  George  R.  Atherton),  4303  Col- 
fax Avenue,  South,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 

Hutchinson,  Katherine  P.,  Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin. 

Kimbel,  Ethel,  134  Prospect  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Lattner,  Emma  (Mrs.  Richard  H.  Helber),  195  Rose  Street, 
Dubuque,  Iowa. 

Maine,  Gladys  Lee  (Mrs.  Chester  Arthur  Shafer),  908  Third 
Avenue,  Hibbing,  Minnesota. 

Marshall,  Eugenia  Jackson  (Mrs.  Warren  R.  Rainey),  Salem, 
Illinois. 

Mason,  Bertha  Genevieve,  Clearwater,  Texas. 

Metcalf,   Georgia  Osborne   (Mrs.   James   Millhite   Bristow), 
2834  Botanical  Avenue,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Mitchell,  Dessie  Leona  (Mrs.  Arthur  Lester  Cash),  601  Van 
Buren  Street,  Gary,  Indiana. 
131 


Proudfit,  Inez  Vera  (Mrs.  Edward  D.  Canatsey),  606  North 
Church  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Rhodes,  Jessie  B.  (Mrs.  Carlyle  Pemberton),  Oakland,  Illi- 
nois. 

Ross,  Hazel  Maurine  (Mrs.  Chas.  J.  Southerland),  Pinon, 
Colorado. 

Ross,  Vera  Pearl  (Mrs.  Edwin  B.  Righter),  1854  Colonnade, 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Rottger,  Jess  Carlyle,  357  East  State  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Ryan,  Ruby  R.  (Mrs.  Fred  Copper),  New  Holland,  Illinois. 

Short,  Myrtle  Edna  (Mrs.  J.  W.  Lester),  941  East  Forty- 
seventh  Street,  Chicago. 

Sidell,  Zelda  Luella,  830  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Virgin,  Dorothy  E.,  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Widenham,  Ruth  M.,  6751  Sunset  Boulevard,  Los  Angeles 
California. 

Wiley,  Neva  Beryl,  Ogden,  Illinois. 


132 


The  Baccalaureate  Address  of  John  the 
Baptist 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1908: 

For  several  weeks,  whenever  I  have  thought  of 
this  commencement  occasion,  my  mind  has  always 
gone  back  to  the  first  commencement  of  which  I 
ever  read.  In  the  early  days,  you  know,  classes 
were  not  taught  within  college  walls,  but  out  of 
doors,  the  students  sitting  under  the  shade  of  the 
trees,  or  walking  side  by  side  with  their  instructors. 

The  college  I  have  thought  of  was  that  of  John 
the  Baptist,  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  on 
the  banks  of  the  River  Jordan.  His  eloquence  and 
his  fiery  earnestness  had  attracted  thousands  of 
eager  listeners,  and  his  new  message  had  secured 
many  who  attached  themselves  to  him  as  his  per- 
sonal pupils.  For  months  he  had  instructed  them, 
filling  their  hearts  and  minds  with  expectation  and 
enthusiasm  for  the  coming  of  a  great  master,  who 
should  draw  all  men  unto  him,  and  prove  to  be  the 
desire  of  all  nations. 

And  one  day,  an  eventful  day,  he  came. 

And  John  knew  that  the  course  of  study  of  the 
disciples  under  himself  was  finished,  and  that  the 

i33 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Commencement  Day  of  his  school  had  come. 
Calling  his  disciples  around  him,  he  pointed  to  the 
new-come  Master,  and  cried,  "Behold,  the  Lamb 
of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world!" 

They  were  slow  to  understand  that  it  meant 
the  closing  of  the  school.  They  loved  their  teacher, 
and  they  could  not  comprehend  that  this  was  his 
baccalaureate  address,  and  that  the  time  had  come 
when  they  must  leave  him.  But  the  next  day,  as 
he  stood  with  two  of  his  disciples,  he  repeated  his 
message  in  such  a  way  that  they  could  no  longer 
misunderstand.  And  the  simple  record  reads: 
"The  two  disciples  heard  him  speak,  and  they 
followed  Jesus." 

This  baccalaureate  address  of  John  the  Baptist 
is  also  mine  to  you.  You  have  been  with  us  for 
years,  and  we  have  learned  to  love  one  another. 
In  many  ways  we  are  loth  to  sever  these  delightful 
relations.  But  you  have  been  faithful,  and  you 
have  finished  the  respective  courses  of  study  on 
which  you  entered  years  ago.  We  honor  you  for 
the  faithful  work  you  have  done,  and  for  the  suc- 
cessful completion  of  the  curriculum  so  far  assigned. 

And  now  face  the  future.  This  is  really  your 
commencement:  when  you  enter  upon  what  ought 
to  be  a  larger,  fuller  life.  As  teachers,  we  take 
leave  of  you.    But  you  will  still  and  always  need  a 

i34 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Teacher  and  a  Master.  And  as  John  to  his  dis- 
ciples, so  let  me  to  you,  point  you  to  One  who  has 
been  my  Teacher  and  Saviour,  and  let  me  urge 
you  to  exalt  him  to  be  your  Saviour,  and  your 
Teacher,  too.  Do  you  also,  here  and  now,  hear 
me  speak,  and  follow  Jesus. 

If  you  follow  him,  he  will  lead  you  to  the 
highest  personal  purity.  Purity  of  life  and  purity 
of  heart  are  our  individual  greatest  need.  And 
you  cannot  walk  near  to  Jesus;  you  cannot  bring 
him  into  your  life,  and  give  him  control  of  your 
desires,  without  experiencing  such  a  cleansing  of 
all  the  issues  of  your  lives  that  your  eyes  may 
have  the  clear  vision  of  God,  your  ears  may  always 
hear  his  voice,  and  your  hearts  always  be  his 
temple.  Nothing  nerves  the  arm,  and  makes  firm 
and  sure  the  step,  as  purity  of  life  does.  You 
remember  Sir  Gallahad — 

"Whose  strength  was  as  the  strength  of  ten, 
Because  his  heart  was  pure." 

If  you  will  follow  Jesus,  he  will  make  you 
strong  for  all  the  duties  and  all  the  trials  of  life. 
It  has  been  our  aim  to  make  you  stronger  in  body, 
to  increase  your  vigor  of  mind  and  of  will  during 
your  college  course.  But,  if  you  are  to  be  effective 
in  life's  battle,  you  will  need  to  know  where  to  go 

i35 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

for  constant  and  unfailing  renewal  of  strength. 
All  experience  shows  that  nowhere  can  you  find  it 
as  in  Jesus.  Those  who  live  near  him  "out  of 
weakness  are  made  strong."  Hear  the  testimony 
of  Paul:  "I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ,  which 
strengtheneth  me." 

But  if  you  are  to  realize  our  ambitions  for  you 
of  being  and  of  doing,  in  addition  to  beauty,  and 
purity,  and  strength  of  character,  you  will  need 
a  heart  overflowing  with  sympathy  and  love. 
Strength  and  purity  are  your  equipment;  love  and 
sympathy  are  what  the  world  needs.  Your  beauty 
and  strength  will  not  minister  to  the  needs  of  your 
fellows  unless  you  come  close  to  them,  and  you 
come  close  to  them  through  love.  Here  is  the  great 
preeminence  of  Jesus.  He  is  easily  the  chief  in 
all  departments  of  life,  but  his  love  overshadows 
so  that  we  can  think  of  little  else.  We  do  not  want 
you  to  stand  apart  from  the  need  of  the  world 
about  you.  Get  down  into  it,  and  where  this  need 
is  greatest  there  let  us  find  you.  And  if  so,  you  will 
be  following  him  very  close. 

And  finally,  we  want  you  to  follow  Jesus  so 
that  your  life  may  be  filled  with  an  earnest  purpose 
that  will  be  effective.  There  are  thousands  of 
college  graduates  every  year,  who  are  fairly 
equipped  with  purity,  and  strength,  and  sympathy, 

136 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

but  whose  lives  fail  because  of  the  lack  of  a  definite 
purpose  full  of  power.  I  know  of  no  compelling 
and  propelling  power  equal  to  Jesus  in  the  life. 
He  is  crying  to  all  the  world,  and  especially  to  you, 
young  women,  "Come  unto  me!"  He  will  give 
you  sympathy,  and  love,  and  strength,  and  the 
beauty  of  purity,  if  you  answer  his  loving  call  and 
"come."  But  his  next  word  to  every  one  who  comes 
is  "go."  And  with  his  command  to  go  is  added 
his  assurance  of  all  power  and  of  his  own  never- 
failing  and  eternal  presence. 

I  like  people  who  do  things.  And  who  ought 
to  do  things  more  than  college  graduates?  Let 
Jesus  "work  in  you,  to  will  and  to  do"  some  of  his 
great  purposes,  and  your  lives  cannot  fail  to  be 
effective  in  the  highest  measure. 

I  do  not  know  how  I  can  express  the  deepest 
desire  of  my  heart  for  you  better  than  in  these 
closing  words: 

I  would  account  it  the  highest  praise  of  my  life 
work  as  a  teacher  if  it  may  be  truthfully  written 
as  my  epitaph:  "And  his  disciples  heard  him  speak, 
and  they  followed  Jesus." 


i37 


1909 
Baccalaureate  Service 

COLLEGE  CHAPEL  IN  MUSIC  HALL 
SUNDAY,   MAY  31,    I909,   7.3O  P.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  John  C.  Willits,  D.D. 

PASTOR  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  DECATUR,   ILL 

Text — Matthew  26.  13.  "Wheresoever  this 
gospel  shall  be  preached  in  the  whole 
world,  there  shall  also  this,  that  this  woman 
hath  done,  be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
TUESDAY,  JUNE   I,    I909,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Bishop  Henry  Spellmeyer,  D.D. 

OF  ST.  LOUIS 
BISHOP  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Class  of  1909 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Davis,  Elizabeth  Hamilton,  A.  B.,  State  Agricultural  College, 

Manhattan,  Kansas. 
Wiley,  Neva  Beryl,  A.  B.,  Ogden,  Illinois. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Baldwin,  Isabelle  Cherye,  329  South  Clay  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Bullard,  Marguerite  Fallis,  Mechanicsburg,  Illinois. 

Eppert,   Mary   (Mrs.   M.  J.   Fishback),    1918   North  Tenth 
Street,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 

Fackt,  Elizabeth  Lenore,  Mascoutah,  Illinois. 

Harper,  Florence,  Farmington,  Illinois. 

Kehoe,  Nellie  (Mrs.  W.  T.  Siston). 

Knollenberg,  Caroline,  233  East  College  Avenue,  Jacksonville. 

Lambert,   Helen   (Mrs.   John  C.   F.  Tillson),  Fort  Apache, 
Arizona. 

Lewis,  Helen  (Mrs.  Alvin  Searles  Keys),  1209  South  Seventh 
Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

McCollister,  Florence  M.   (Mrs.   Lee  Orville  Freeh),  White 
Hall,  Illinois. 

Mathis,  Alice,  121  Diamond  Court,  Jacksonville. 

Mcrkle,  Jeanette. 

Metcalf,  Mary  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  K.  Taliaferro  Smith),  Green- 
field, Illinois. 

Phillips,  William  B.  (Miss  Alice  Borgelt),  Lake  Forest,  Illi- 
nois. 

Potts,  Edith  Margaret,  209  Eighth  Street,  LaGrangc,  Illi- 
nois. 

Reed,  Bessie  Beatrice  (Mrs.  George  H.  McKean),  Woodson, 
Illinois. 

141 


Sauvage,  Dicie  Emma,  Tolono,  Illinois. 

Scofield,  Grace  R.   (Mrs.   Murray  F.  Merritt),  Wellington, 

Illinois. 
Smith,  Nellie  (Mrs.  Herbert  H.  Harris),  Beardstown,  Illinois. 
Stephens,  Hazel  Kirke,  Robinson,  Illinois. 
Turner,  Nina  (Mrs.  W.  R.  Green),  Sumner,  Illinois. 
Virgin,  Norma,  Virginia,  Illinois. 
Wagner,  Ninah  Dunlap  (Mrs.  O.  M.  Sherman),  3419  Paseo, 

Kansas  City,  Missouri. 


142 


The  Things  That  Abide 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1909: 

I  trust  that  the  sermon  to  which  we  have  just 
listened,  so  full  of  truth,  exactly  suited  to  you,  and 
delivered  on  an  occasion  of  so  much  personal  in- 
terest, will  long  be  remembered  and  cherished. 
And  may  you  be  not  hearers  only,  but  doers  of 
the  word. 

I  would  not  presume  to  add  anything  to  the 
lessons  already  taught,  were  it  not  for  two  consid- 
erations. The  first  is  that  for  fifteen  years  past  I 
have  said  the  last  words  to  my  graduating  classes 
and  have  come  to  enjoy  the  privilege  and  count  it 
one  of  my  highest  honors.  The  second  is  that  I 
believe  I  have  a  message  for  you,  one  that  I  want 
you  never  to  forget;  and  I  give  it  to  you  on  an 
occasion  which  I  know  will  be  remembered  as  one 
of  the  greatest  events  of  your  life  in  the  hope  that 
the  occasion  and  the  message  may  be  remembered 
together. 

From  all  appearances,  it  would  seem  that  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  is  the  great  aim  and  end 
of  school  and  college  life.  We  build  and  equip 
libraries  that  you  may  know ;  we  equip  laboratories 

i43 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

that  you  may  test  knowledge  and  increase  it;  you 
study  the  textbooks  in  order  to  know,  and  the 
teacher  hears  your  lessons  to  see  whether  you 
know.  If  you  do  not  know,  you  fail,  and  are 
dropped  from  the  roll.  If  you  know  thoroughly 
and  well,  you  are  passed  with  honor.  You  are 
here  to-night  because  you  have  learned  and  have 
known  the  subjects  over  which  your  several  courses 
have  led  you.  It  would  seem,  I  repeat,  that  the 
schools  and  colleges  believe  that  knowledge  is 
pretty  near  the  whole  thing. 

Now  what  I  want  to  tell  you  to-night,  and  to 
impress  upon  you,  is  that  this  is  not  at  all  true. 
Knowledge,  instead  of  being  the  great  thing,  is 
really  a  comparatively  small  thing.  The  objection 
to  knowledge  is  that  it  is  so  transient.  It  does  not 
last.  "If  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish 
away."  Half  of  what  you  have  learned  in  college 
you  have  already  forgotten,  and  part  of  what  you 
have  learned  and  still  remember  is  not  now  true. 
In  a  few  years  you  will  have  forgotten  nearly 
everything  that  you  have  learned  during  your 
school  and  college  course.  If  knowledge  were  all 
the  outcome,  it  were  not  worth  while  for  conse- 
crated men  and  women  to  give  their  lives  for  the 
founding  of  colleges,  nor  for  you  to  spend  so  many 
years  in  study  and  self-denial. 

144 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

In  order  to  be  worth  while,  there  must  be  some- 
thing, as  a  result  of  college  life  and  work,  that  re- 
mains after  the  lessons  have  been  forgotten.  For 
each  of  you,  the  question  of  most  concern  to  me 
now  is  not,  "What  do  you  know?"  but,  "What 
have  you  secured  in  college  that  will  abide?" 

Has  there  been,  deep  graven  on  your  hearts, 
an  ideal  of  possibilities  of  life  and  character  toward 
which  you  will  now  constantly  strive,  so  that  your 
life  path  will  grow  brighter  and  brighter  unto  the 
perfect  day? 

Have  you  caught  a  vision  of  things  which  are 
not  subjects  of  ordinary  knowledge,  things  "to 
flesh  and  sense  unknown,"  which  "eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  heart  conceived,"  but  which 
are  revealed  to  every  sincere  soul;  a  vision  which, 
if  you  keep  it  in  your  life,  will,  for  the  joy  that  it 
sets  before  you,  enable  you  to  bear  with  patience 
any  lot  which  life  may  have  in  store  for  you? 

Have  you  begun  to  learn  how  much  better  it 
is  to  give  than  to  receive;  to  minister  than  to  be 
ministered  unto;  and  has  there  come  to  you  any 
longing  and  any  resolution  to  give  your  lives  to 
service  rather  than  to  selfishness?  They  are  call- 
ing for  you  in  the  home,  and  in  your  church,  and 
in  your  local  community.  They  need  your  edu- 
cated ability,  your  trained  talent,  your  cultivated 

i45 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

womanliness.  Your  smile  can  make  the  days 
brighter  for  many  hearts,  your  hands  can  make 
burdens  lighter  for  many  now  carrying  loads. 
They  need  you  greatly  somewhere,  and  they  will 
call  for  you.  Your  college  education  must  prove 
itself  by  your  willingness  to  hear  these  calls,  and 
by  your  ability  to  render  the  service  which  they 
need. 

Covet  most  earnestly,  then,  the  things  that 
will  remain.  Knowledge  is  good,  but  character  is 
better.  Some  day  you  will  forget  the  things  you 
know;  in  fact,  there  will  be  no  need  for  you  to 
remember  them.  But  your  faith  will  ever  be  an 
anchor  to  your  soul,  sure  and  steadfast;  and  your 
life,  if  all  surrendered  in  love  and  unselfish  devo- 
tion to  the  call  of  duty,  will  find  itself  forever. 

When  Jesus  met  his  disciples  for  the  last  time 
before  his  ascension,  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  his  anxious  thought  about  Peter  was  not 
whether  Peter  remembered  all  the  lessons  that 
Jesus  had  taught  during  the  three  years  of  the 
apostle's  college  life,  but  the  yearning  of  the 
Saviour's  heart  is  seen  in  his  thrice-repeated  ques- 
tion, "Peter,  do  you  love  me?"  With  a  loyal 
heart  of  love  assured,  he  could  send  Peter  out  to 
service  for  young  and  old ;  to  a  life  of  consecration 

146 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

to  be  crowned  by  a  death  of  sacrifice,  like  that  of 
the  Master  himself. 

So,  young  women,  this  is  our  prayer  for  you. 
Knowledge,  as  a  beginning  only;  but  a  faith  that 
endures;  and  a  life  of  service,  prompted  by  hearts 
rooted  and  grounded  in  that  love  from  which 
"neither  life  nor  death,  nor  things  present  nor 
things  to  come,  shall  ever  separate  you." 


i47 


1910 
Baccalaureate  Service 

COLLEGE  CHAPEL  IN  MUSIC  HALL 
SUNDAY,  MAY  29,    I9IO,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  F.  A.  McCarty,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  CENTENARY  CHURCH 

Text — Ephesians  5.  17.  "Wherefore  be  ye  not 
unwise,  but  understanding  what  the  will 
of  the  Lord  is." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
TUESDAY,  MAY  31,   I9IO,  9.3O  A.  M. 

Address  by  Rev.  W.  S.  Lewis,  D.D. 

OF  CHINA 
BISHOP  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Class  of  1910 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Harshbarger,  Frances,  A.  B.,  Ivesdale,  Illinois. 

Mitchell,  Dessie  Leona,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Arthur  Lester  Cash), 
601  Van  Buren  Street,  Gary,  Indiana. 

Powell,  Jeanette  Chilton,  A.  B.,  Hockenhull  Building,  Jack- 
sonville. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Ash,  Helen  Hazel  (Mrs.  Claire  E.  Ferris),  1336  Date  Street, 
San  Diego,  California. 

Booth,  Alma,  3353  South  Park  Avenue,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Fuller,  Mrs.  Iva  Mae  (Mrs.  Loren  D wight  Cannon),  Green- 
ville, Illinois. 

Helm,  Henrietta  Sarah,  1507  North  Lake  Avenue,  Pasadena, 
California. 

Hopper,  Eunice,  641  South  Diamond  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Jennings,  Pearl  Louise  (Mrs.  Grover  C.  Stockmann),  Du 
Quoin,  Illinois. 

Jones,  Laura  Marianne  (Mrs.  H.  A.  Simon),  Saybrook,  Illi- 
nois. 

La  Teer,  Mary  (Mrs.  Charles  T.  Alexander),  904  West  Hill 
Street,  Champaign,  Illinois. 

Long,  Hazel  Belle,  310  West  College  Avenue,  Jacksonville. 

McCutcheon,  Illileo  A.  (Mrs.  Paul  P.  Thompson),  Mound 
Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Richards,  Pearl,  Wolverine,  Michigan. 

Skiles,  Florence  Margaret  (Mrs.  Donald  Riley),  631  Laurel 
Avenue,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Sparkes,  Winnie,  Pontiac,  Illinois. 

Taylor,  Florence  Leah,  1040  West  College  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville. 

Todd,  Elizabeth  A.,  6030  Greenwood  Avenue,  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois. 

151 


Tke  College  Motto:  Knowledge,  Faith, 
Service 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1910: 

You  have  finished  a  college  course;  and,  be- 
cause of  this,  your  friends  and  the  friends  of  the 
college  are  gathering  to  do  you  and  the  college 
honor.  I  have  thought  that  both  for  you  and  for 
us  it  may  not  be  without  profit  if  we  inquire  at 
this  time  just  what  your  college  graduation  may 
fairly  be  assumed  to  mean,  both  for  you  and  for 
the  college. 

What  is  a  college,  and  what  should  be  the  out- 
come of  a  college  course  in  you?  We  are  earnestly 
seeking  to  build  here  a  college  that  shall  be  in 
every  way  adequate  to  the  higher  education  of 
young  women.  Hundreds  of  devoted  men  and 
women  have  laid  here  the  foundations;  and  we  are 
everywhere  seeking  other  friends  and  urging  them 
to  a  consecration  of  money  for  buildings,  and  equip- 
ment, and  endowment;  to  make  a  college  a  place, 
as  Dr.  Jowett  defines  it,  "of  learning,  of  society, 
and  of  religion."  Pray  that  we  may  be  guided  to 
find  them.  We  are  greatly  desiring  the  means  to 
provide  libraries,  laboratories,  and  gymnasium,  and 

153 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

the  best  teachers,  thoroughly  prepared,  and  full  of 
inspiration. 

But  we  are  not  seeking  these  things  just  to 
have  college  buildings,  and  equipment,  and  endow- 
ment. We  are  seeking  them  for  you,  and  for  those 
that  shall  come  after  you,  as  a  means  to  a  worthy 
end.  A  college  means  to  us  an  environment  that 
will  foster  every  good  capacity  in  you,  and  that 
will  inspire  you  and  furnish  you  with  a  motive, 
adequate  for  every  duty,  and  worthy  of  the  best 
that  is  in  you.  A  college  is  a  means — a  means  by 
which  the  highest  and  soundest  culture,  the  noblest 
companionships,  the  most  compelling  inspirations, 
the  purest  religion  of  one  generation  is  best  trans- 
mitted to  the  ablest  and  choicest  youths  of  the 
next.  To  put  my  thought  of  what  a  college  is, 
and  what  I  want  this  college  to  be  for  every  young 
woman  who  comes  here,  into  the  briefest  form:  it 
is  a  place  where  the  best  possible  opportunity  is 
given  to  develop  your  highest  and  noblest  capacity 
into  actual  powers.  Education  is  development  of 
capacity  into  actual  power. 

And  now,  very  briefly,  what  have  we  a  right 
to  expect  the  college  has  done  for  you,  and  will  do 
for  others  who  take  your  places?  We  have  a  right 
to  expect  that  the  college  has  increased  your 
knowledge — your  capacity  for  power  to  know.     If 

i54 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

you  fail  in  this  you  have  wasted  your  time,  and 
you  will  dishonor  your  college.  Ninety-nine  women 
out  of  every  hundred  have  not  had  the  opportunity 
that  you  have  had  of  seeking  and  intermeddling 
with  knowledge,  and  correspondingly  you  ought 
to  be  better  informed  than  they.  The  fields  of 
science  and  of  literature,  of  history,  of  music,  and 
of  art  ought  to  be  familiar  haunts  to  you.  What 
men  have  discovered,  what  men  have  done,  or 
thought,  or  felt,  or  dreamed,  you  ought  to  know — 
at  least  in  large  degree.  Of  course,  you  do  not 
know  everything.  But  a  college  education  ought 
to  have  given  you  the  keys  to  enter  any  of  these 
halls  of  human  learning;  and  entering,  you  ought 
to  have  the  power  to  appreciate  the  richness  and 
the  beauty  of  the  inheritance  that  is  within. 

In  nature  you  ought  to  be  able  to  think  God's 
thoughts  after  him;  and  in  history,  and  literature, 
and  music,  and  art,  you  ought  to  be  able  to  enter 
into  the  thoughts,  and  feelings,  and  deeds  of  all 
your  fellows.  Knowledge  makes  us  kingly.  "It 
is  the  knowing  ones  that  rule,"  says  Carlyle.  The 
king  is  the  man  that  kens.  We  have  a  right  to 
expect,  young  women,  that  having  been  through 
college  you  know  something. 

But,  beyond  this,  we  also  have  a  right  to  expect 
that  your  college  course  has  given  you  a  stronger, 

i55 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

a  more  virile  faith.  Knowledge  makes  you  know 
the  past  and  present.  But  the  future  is  just  as 
certain  and  secure  as  the  present.  God  has 
crowned  us  with  glory  and  honor  in  setting  our 
faces  forward  and  upward.  We  have  capacity  for 
knowledge,  which  makes  us  not  afraid  of  the  past 
or  the  present.  But  we  also  have  a  capacity  for 
faith,  which  makes  us  not  afraid  of  the  future. 
By  our  knowledge  we  are  masters  of  the  present; 
by  our  faith  we  have  the  greater  victory  of  "  things 
to  come."  Knowledge  gives  us  the  key  to  things 
seen  and  temporal;  faith  is  the  key  to  things  un- 
seen and  eternal.  The  college  has  been  false  to 
you  if  it  has  made  you  more  ready  to  doubt  than 
to  believe.     But  you  have  not  so  learned  here. 

Do  not  talk  of  the  unknowable.  There  is  no 
such  thing.  "What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now, 
but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  Do  not  talk  of 
the  impossible.  "All  things  are  possible  to  him 
who  has  faith."  I  hate  the  doctrine  of  agnos- 
ticism. I  pity  the  agnostic.  Poor,  blind  mole. 
Come  up  into  the  sunshine  of  faith.  Even  in  your 
greatest  perplexity,  cry  out,  "-I  believe!  I  believe! 
Lord,  help  my  unbelief!"  Believe  that  God's  in 
his  heaven,  and  all's  right  with  the  world.  Believe 
in  men  and  women,  and  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
the  best  in  human  nature  and  in  society.     Believe 

156 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

in  yourselves,  and  in  your  unquestioned  ability  to 
work  out  in  your  own  lives  whatever  vision  he 
shows  you  "in  the  mount."  Wherever  knowledge 
gives  you  even  a  small  arc,  faith  can  complete  the 
circle. 

Young  women,  prove  that  the  Woman's  Col- 
lege has  been  true  to  you  by  adding  to  your  knowl- 
edge a  living,  unconquerable  faith.  Greet  every 
morning  with  an  unfailing  optimism. 

And  lastly,  to  what  end  or  purpose  has  the 
college  developed  in  you  this  capacity  for  knowl- 
edge and  for  faith?  Not  alone  that  you  may  know 
and  believe.  Not  for  the  sense  of  power  and  satis- 
faction that  comes  because  knowing  the  past  and 
present  you  can  rule,  and  seeing  the  future  you 
can  lead  and  guide.  Not  that  it  may  set  you,  as 
it  does,  in  a  noble  aristocracy.  "Not  to  be  min- 
istered unto,  but  to  minister." 

"Freely  you  have  received."  Your  college 
course  has  been  possible  because  men  and  women 
have  freely  given  their  wealth  for  you.  These 
college  buildings,  this  equipment,  these  advantages 
represent  money,  and  love,  and  life,  freely  given 
to  you.  You  can  never  know  the  love,  and  devo- 
tion, and  service  of  parents  and  teachers  to  make 
possible  your  present  development  of  power  in 
knowledge  and  faith.     Freely  you  have  received: 

157 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

now  freely  give.  Here  will  be  the  glory  of  your 
alma  mater — in  your  devotion  and  consecration  of 
the  powers  she  has  helped  you  develop  in  a  noble 
service. 

And  permit  me  just  a  final  word.  Do  not  be 
ambitious  for  what  the  world  calls  exalted  service. 
How  our  Lord  exalts  and  glorifies  what  we  call 
mean  service!  "Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the 
least  of  one  of  these,"  he  says.  Young  women,  it 
is  the  glory  of  womanhood  to  walk  in  the  quiet 
paths,  to  do  obscure  service,  to  minister  to  the 
little  and  weak,  to  be  unknown,  and  little  noticed, 
to  decrease  that  others  may  increase.  If  he  calls 
you  to  some  public  service  you  will  do  it  faithfully 
and  well;  but  he  honors  you  more  than  he  honors 
us  men  by  calling  you  more  frequently  to  service 
that  is  vastly  more  difficult  because  more  humble 
and  obscure.  With  your  consecrated  college  pow- 
ers, let  your  prayer  be — 

"O  Master  let  me  walk  with  Thee 
In  lowly  paths  of  service  free." 

Our  college  motto  is,  "Knowledge,  Faith,  Serv- 
ice." Illustrate  the  motto  by  an  intelligent,  tri- 
umphant, and  unselfish  life. 


158 


I9ii 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  28,    I9II,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  A.  C.  Piersol,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  FIRST  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

SPRINGFIELD,   ILL. 

Text — John  11.  28.    "The  Master  is  come,  and 
calleth  for  thee." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
WEDNESDAY,   MAY  31,    I9II,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Charles  M.  Stuart,  D.D. 

EVANSTON,  ILL. 
EDITOR  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE 


Class  of  1911 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Henson,  Gladys,  A.  B.,  Villa  Grove,  Illinois. 

Kennedy,  Jessie,  A.  B.,  Waverly,  Illinois. 

Leavell,  Gladys,  A.   B.,  5557  University  Avenue,  Chicago, 

Illinois. 
Wagner,  Ninah  D.,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  O.  M.  Sherman),  3419  Paseo, 

Kansas  City,  Missouri. 
West,  Mildred  Georgia,  A.  B.,  810  Fulton  Street,  Keokuk, 

Iowa. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Breckon,   Bess  (Mrs.   Robert  Storey  Crawford),  University 

Club,  Madison,  Wisconsin. 
Brown,  Mildred  Jane,  305  North  Prairie  Street,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Foucht,  Edna  Leona,  Rutland,  Illinois. 

Gamble,  Marjorie  (Mrs.  Harry  Knudson),  Greenfield,  Illinois. 
Hogan,  Lila,  McLeansboro,  Illinois. 
Jenkins,  Anna  L.,  Ottawa,  Ohio. 
Miller,  Louise,  Wathena,  Kansas. 

Mink,  Rachel  (Mrs.  Kyle  Dunham),  New  Salem,  Illinois. 
Moore,  Clara  Catherine,  856  West  State  Street,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Parks,  Hazel,  LeRoy,  Illinois. 
Patterson,    Ruth    (Mrs.    Fred    Hopper),   607   South    Prairie 

Street,  Jacksonville. 
Reaugh,   Nelle   (Mrs.  John  W.   Larson),  918  West  College 

Avenue,  Jacksonville. 
Ring,  Margaret,  819  Goltra  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Robinson,  Edith,  537  South  Diamond  Street,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 

161 


Rowe,  Millicent,  1152  West  State  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Sheppard,  Edna,  284  Sandusky  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Sieber,  Geraldine,  1019  Grove  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Wainright,  Katherine,  Winchester,  Illinois. 
Walker,  Harriet  L.,  R.  R.  1,  Webb  City,  Missouri. 
Waters,  Mr*  Irl.     (In  the  army.) 
Worcester,  Irene,  Roodhouse,  Illinois. 


162 


Tke  College  a  Mount  of  Inspiration  and 
Privilege 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1911 : 

You  have  been  with  us  for  several  years  in 
training  for  womanhood.  It  has  been  our  delight- 
ful task  to  endeavor  to  show  you  the  highest  ideals, 
and  to  inspire  you  to  a  personal  acceptance  of 
them.  We  have  been  helping  you  to  lay  founda- 
tions, and  to  make  plans  for  the  life  structure 
which  you  will  raise  on  these  foundations.  For, 
though  you  have  finished  your  college  education, 
these  exercises  are  properly  called  "  commence- 
ment," since  it  is  the  beginning  of  the  years  in 
which  you  will,  each  one  for  herself,  now  without 
the  direct  and  personal  instruction  of  others,  build 
your  life  structure  of  whatever  strength,  and 
beauty,  and  symmetry  may  be  possible  for  you. 

We  watch  your  going  out  with  much  interest, 
and  with  some  anxiety.  Our  hearts  go  with  you, 
and  we  follow  you,  as  we  have  followed  and  are 
following  hundreds  of  others  of  our  college  chil- 
dren, and  pray  that  God  may  help  you  build  a 
life  that  will  be  noble  and  serviceable,  and  that 
will  stand  in  the  day  of  supremest  testing. 

163 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

As  you  go,  carry  with  you  this  last  word  from 
your  alma  mater,  your  dear  college  mother,  as 
representing  the  deepest  prayer  of  your  president 
and  the  faculty,  "See  that  you  make  all  things 
according  to  the  pattern  shown  to  you  in  the 
mount."  These  were  the  words  spoken  to  Moses 
on  Mount  Sinai,  relative  to  the  building  of  the 
tabernacle  in  which  should  be  the  holy  of  holies 
for  the  presence  of  God  himself.  And  we  want 
you  to  adopt  them  as  your  own  in  the  building  of 
your  life  character. 

The  college  is  a  place  of  ideals.  "Do  not  stop 
here,"  we  are  always  saying.  "Lift  up  your  eyes 
to  the  hills." 

"Set  your  whole  heart  to  endeavor, 
Fix  your  eyes  on  yon  bright  star." 

As  in  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  the  Evangelist  said 
to  Christian,  "Do  you  see  yonder  shining  light 
afar  off?"  And  Christian  said,  "I  think  I  do." 
And  Evangelist  said,  "Keep  that  light  in  your  eye, 
move  steadily  toward  it,  and  you  will  come  to  the 
Celestial  City."  So  we  in  the  college  have  taken 
you  to  hilltops  of  advantage,  and  have  shown  you 
ideals  of  excellence  in  knowing,  and  doing,  and  in 
being;  in  learning,  and  character,  and  service,  and 
life;  and  have  urged  you  forward  to  their  attain- 
ment. 

164 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

We  know  very  well  that  all  college  life  is  not 
lived  "in  the  mount."  There  is  much  plodding  in 
the  valley,  many  days  of  darkness,  much  lowering 
of  ideals.  Even  your  best  and  most  helpful  teacher 
is  not  always  inspiring.  Perhaps,  let  us  acknowl- 
edge it,  though  with  shame,  there  are  some  college 
influences  which  drag  downward.  But,  in  these 
final  words,  I  want  you  to  forget  all  these,  and  to 
fix  your  attention  on  the  college  hours  when  you 
heard  voices  calling  you  to  more  difficult  achieve- 
ment, and  a  nobler  and  better  life,  when  you  had 
a  vision  of  something  more  you  could  know,  and 
something  more  worthy  you  could  do,  and  some- 
thing better  you  could  be — voices  and  a  vision  that 
got  hold  of  you  for  a  while,  and  made  you  feel  that 
what  you  ought  and  could  you  would. 

Recall  some  of  the  hours  in  the  class-room  with 
a  teacher  whose  heart  was  in  her  work,  and  who 
showed  you  a  possible  attainment  of  which  you 
had  never  before  been  conscious;  some  of  the  best 
hours  with  some  of  your  choicest  college  friends, 
both  teachers  and  students,  in  which  you  had  a 
revelation  of  a  higher  womanliness  possible  to  you ; 
some  of  the  hours  of  Christian  fellowship  in  which 
visions  of  a  deeper  Christian  experience  and  of 
Christian  service  seemed  to  beckon  you;  some  of 
the  hours  in  the  college  chapel  when  you  heard 

165 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Jesus  call  your  name,  and  ask  you  personally  if 
you  loved  him,  and  bade  you  follow  him,  and  you 
called  him  Lord  and  Master;  some  of  the  quiet 
hours,  when  you  were  on  the  mount  with  Jesus 
alone,  and  he  stirred  a  great  longing  in  your  hearts 
to  be  and  to  do  at  least  something  worthy  of  him — 
recall  such  hours  and  influences  as  these  in  your 
college  days  as  times  when  you  were  "in  the 
mount,"  and  see  that  you  make  all  things  in  your 
after-college  life  according  to  the  patterns  shown 
you  in  these  hours  of  exaltation. 

You  will  not  fail  to  note  that  Moses  could  not 
build  the  tabernacle  while  he  stayed  "in  the 
mount."  We  all  have  to  come  down  into  the  valley 
to  do  our  work.  We  feel  like  Peter  when  we  are 
privileged  to  be  on  some  mount  of  transfiguration, 
that  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  there.  But  the  greatest 
thing  in  life  is  the  ability  to  carry  the  glory  and  in- 
spiration of  the  mount  down  into  the  valleys;  to 
make  our  common  life  resplendent,  and  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  great  multitudes  who  are  there  waiting 
our  sympathy  and  our  help.  You  go  out  from 
college  to  common  daily  tasks  and  the  continual 
round  of  the  ordinary  daily  life. 

Phillips  Brooks  says  that  we  find  this  the 
hardest  work  all  our  lives — to  keep  our  highest 
ideals  and  our  commonest  occupations  in  constant 

166 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

and  healthy  contact  with  each  other.  Prove  that 
your  college  life  has  been  worth  while,  and  that 
the  degrees  and  diplomas  you  will  presently  receive 
have  been  rightly  bestowed,  by  showing  that  you 
can  work  out  every  task  of  daily  life  according  to 
the  pattern  shown  you  in  the  mount  of  your  col- 
lege privilege. 

I  am  pleading  that  you  forget  the  things  in 
your  college  life  that  were  unworthy  and  low  and 
disappointing,  and  that  you  fix  and  recall  as  often 
as  possible  "whatsoever  things  were  true,  whatso- 
ever things  were  honest,  whatsoever  things  were 
just,  whatsoever  things  were  pure,  whatsoever 
things  were  lovely,  and  whatsoever  things  were  of 
good  report."  Think  over  again  frequently  the 
college  experiences  of  virtue  and  praise,  and  see 
that  you  make  all  things  according  to  the  pattern 
shown  you  in  the  mount. 

"And  may  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all 
understanding,  keep  your  hearts  and  minds  in 
Christ  Jesus!"     Amen! 


167 


1912 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  JUNE  2,    1912,   7.3O  P.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  John  W.  Miller,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  GRACE  CHURCH 
Subject — "Living  for  Things  that  Count." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 

Address  by  Bishop  Wm.  A.  Quayle,  D.D. 

ST.   PAUL 
BISHOP  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Class  of  1912 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Asplund,   Esther  Marie,   A.    B.    (Mrs.   Frank   Rucker),  819 

North  Liberty  Street,  Independence,  Missouri. 
Gates,  Catherine  Louise,  A.  B.,  1036  West  Lafayette  Avenue, 

Jacksonville. 
Heflin,  May,  A.  B.,  Wenona,  Illinois. 
Mclntyre,  Belle,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Irwin  A.  Madden),  307  Vernon 

Avenue,  Normal,  Illinois. 
Rearick,  Annette  Peam,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Harry  Joseph  Lohman), 

Ashland,  Illinois. 
Rose,  Ethel  Marion,  A.  B.,  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Allison,  Edna,  Mt.  Sterling,  Illinois. 

Allison,  Jennie  Mayme,  600  West  Jordan  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Allison,  Sarah  Lucille,  600  West  Jordan  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Curdie,  Rhea  Marguerite,  401  Alby  Street,  Alton,  Illinois. 

English,  Frances,  717  College  Street,  Jacksonville. 

Fox,  Sue  Myrtle  (Mrs.  LeRoy  Potter),  307  W7oodland  Place, 
Jacksonville. 

Garland,  Clarissa  H.  (Mrs.  C.  E.  Hudgens),  414  East  State 
Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Hopper,  Lena  Mae,  301  North  Diamond,  Jacksonville,  Illi- 
nois. 

Newcomb,  Sidney  Rose  (Mrs.  Hampton  J.  Bloom),  Gilman, 
Montana. 

Newman,  Ella  Marguerite,  809  East  State  Street,  Jackson- 
ville. 

Richter,  Elsa  Freda,  113  East  Main  Street,  Trinidad,  Colo- 
rado. 

171 


Schlosser,  Pearl,  Mayville,  North  Dakota. 

Severns,  Mary  Anderson  (Mrs.  Lynn  Stanforth),  405  West 

Fourth  Street,  Ironton,  Missouri. 
Shuff,  Stella  Mae  (Mrs.  James  Mahon),  R.  R.,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Stimpson,    Ruth    M.    (Mrs.    Earnest    Yingling),    Eldorado, 

Kansas. 
Taylor,  Jeanette  McCluee  (Mrs.  Chester  A.  Hemphill),  1040 

West  College  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Vickery,  Beryl,  Dwight,  Illinois. 
Walker,  Myrtle  S.,  R.  F.  D.  1,  Webb  City,  Missouri. 
Watson,  Mary  Clifford    (Mrs.   Roy  Lawrence  Scott),  Sauk 

Center,  Minnesota. 
Widenham,  Ruth  M.,  6751  Sunset  Boulevard,  Los  Angeles, 

California. 


I/- 


God's    Greatest   Workmen    Seldom  Com- 
plete Their  Tasks 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1912: 

You  are  experiencing  now  a  kind  of  enjoyment 
that  comes  to  comparatively  few  in  life.  You 
have  completed  your  college  course,  and  have 
finished  the  task  set  before  you;  and  there  now 
comes  to  you  the  joy  of  achievement,  the  "well 
done"  of  your  teachers,  and  the  honorable  recog- 
nition which  the  world  delights  to  give  to  all  who 
have  succeeded.  We  welcome  you  into  the  ranks 
of  Woman's  College  Alumnae,  a  most  honorable 
band,  now  numbering  more  than  a  thousand;  and 
we  give  you  credentials  which  will  admit  you  to 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  those  advanced  to 
the  same  rank  here  and  everywhere.  We  congratu- 
late you,  and  rejoice  with  you. 

But  as  you  thus  stand  on  the  threshold  of  the 
college,  to  go  out  into  the  more  general  and  larger 
life  of  the  world,  let  me  remind  you  that  what  is 
happening  here  now  is  not  the  rule  of  life,  but 
rather  its  exception.  The  rule  of  life  is  not  the 
course  completed,  not  the  task  finished,  not  the 
journey  ended.     There  is  a  glory  in  the  completed 

173 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

course;  but,  rightly  seen,  there  is  a  greater  glory 
still  reserved  in  some  course  which  God  marks  out 
for  us — so  comprehensive  that  its  completion 
reaches  away  beyond  our  years,  however  prolonged, 
into  the  unseen  vista  of  eternity. 

This  must  be  so  or  life  would  hardly  be  worth 
living.  Our  time  is  so  short  here,  our  strength  so 
small,  that  any  tasks  we  can  complete,  must  be 
little  tasks;  any  ideal  we  can  here  attain  must  be 
a  comparatively  low  ideal;  any  course  we  can 
wholly  master  must  be  very  limited  indeed.  And 
God,  who  orders  our  lives,  and  all  lives,  has  greater 
tasks  whose  completion  requires  the  co-operation 
of  thousands  of  his  noblest.  He  sets  us  at  our  part, 
and  we  labor  on,  and  fall  at  our  post,  the  task  still 
uncompleted.  Other  workmen  take  up  our  tools, 
but  God's  great  work  goes  on  to  its  accomplish- 
ment. 

The  greater  truth  is:  that  God's  greatest  work- 
men seldom  complete  their  work;  God's  greatest 
heroes  seldom  see  the  victory  in  their  wars.  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob  never  found  the  city  which 
they  sought;  Moses  never  entered  Canaan;  Joshua 
did  not  conquer  the  Canaanitish  tribes.  In  the 
eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews,  where  the  roll  of 
honor  of  Old  Testament  heroes  is  called,  the  record 
is  that  every  one  died  in  faith,  not  having  received 

i74 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

the  promise.  Not  one  of  them  seemed  to  finish 
his  task,  or  to  receive  his  reward;  but  labored  and 
strove  to  the  very  end,  and  then  laid  down  his 
work  unfinished,  in  disappointment  and  apparent 
defeat,  for  some  one  else  to  take  up  and  complete. 

And  the  same  is  true  for  all  God's  New  Testa- 
ment heroes,  even  up  to  the  nineteenth  and  twenti- 
eth centuries.  The  men  and  women  who  built 
this  Woman's  College  had  the  vision;  theirs  was 
the  duty,  and  the  toil,  and  the  sacrifice;  but  they, 
too,  died,  not  having  realized  the  promise.  God 
gives  to  a  father  and  a  mother  the  ideal  of  the 
family,  and  they  begin  their  home  in  the  joy  and 
enthusiasm  of  youth  and  love;  but  the  years  go  by, 
and  at  the  end,  with  broken  hearts,  they  bend  in 
tears  over  the  graves  of  all  their  hopes.  He  calls 
his  heroes  into  the  battle  for  righteousness  in  city, 
and  state,  and  nation;  and  they  enter  into  it 
bravely,  and  fight  a  good  fight  manfully,  but  they 
die  fighting,  and  do  not  receive  here  a  victor's 
crown.  They,  too,  die  in  faith,  not  having  realized 
the  promises. 

Let  us  not  think,  then,  that  the  laurel  wreath, 
or  the  victor's  crown,  or  the  applause  of  friends, 
are  the  signs  of  life's  successes.  God's  greatest 
tasks  are  the  unfinished  tasks;  his  greatest  heroes 
are  the  uncrowned  heroes.     Let  us  not  be  elated 

i75 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

if  he  calls  us  to  short  courses  that  are  easily  com- 
pleted; or  to  little  tasks  that  are  over  and  done  in 
a  few  brief  years.  Let  us  rather  rejoice  if  he  calls 
us  to  be  laborers  together  with  him  in  some  plan 
which  reaches  beyond  both  our  vision  and  our 
years.  Let  us  be  glad  now  if  we  may  be  done  with 
things  about  which  we  clap  our  hands  to-morrow 
that  they  are  completed.  But  let  us  rather  ask 
him  to  try  us  with  something  worth  while  in  life 
and  character  for  the  generations  that  are  to 
follow  us — something  that  will  keep  us  ever  grow- 
ing to  keep  up  with  its  growth,  and  something  that 
will  reach  over  into  all  the  coming  years. 

Let  us  pray  that  we  may  be  counted  worthy  to 
dig  wells  out  of  which  we  may  not  drink,  and  to 
plant  orchards  of  whose  fruit  we  may  not  eat. 
O  that  we  might  rise  to  the  sublime  height  of  the 
Psalmist  when  he  prays  that  God's  work  may 
appear  unto  him,  and  that  the  glory  of  the  work 
may  be  reserved  for  his  children ! 

Young  women,  my  heart's  desire  for  you  and 
for  myself  to-night  is  that,  with  such  a  vision  of 
life's  work  before  us,  we  may  take  up  its  daily 
round  of  duty,  and  labor  on  in  patience  to  the  end, 
with  courage  unabated,  with  zeal  undiminished, 
having  our  joy  in  the  work  itself,  not  thinking 
overmuch  about  life's  baccalaureates. 

176 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Happy  will  it  be  for  us  if  we  are  counted  worthy 
to  labor  and  to  wait;  happy  even,  if  need  be,  to 
die  in  faith,  not  having  realized  the  promises;  and 
perfectly  content  to  wait  for  our  reward  until  we 
see  him  face  to  face;  provided  only  that  we  are 
faithful  to  his  daily  grace,  and  diligently  active  in 
fulfilling  every  duty  which  he  assigns. 


177 


1913 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  JUNE   I,    I913,    10. 45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Robert  Mclntyre,  D.D. 

OF  OKLAHOMA 
BISHOP  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Text — Luke  22.  36.    "He  that  hath  no  sword, 
let  him  sell  his  garment  and  buy  one." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  4,    I913,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Thomas  Nicholson,  D.D. 

SECRETARY  OF  THE   BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  OF  THE  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,   NEW  YORK 


Class  of  1913 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Allan,  Emily  Jane,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Wm.  A.  Fay),  930  West 
North  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Berryman,  Golden  Ethel,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Ralph  0.  von  Thurn), 
California  Courts,  Apt.  F,  143  Tenth  Street,  Tulsa, 
Oklahoma. 

Campbell,  Jessie,  B.  S.  (Mrs.  Edw.  Wilson  Davis),  707  Ave- 
nue 8,  S.  E.,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 

Coultas,  Lois,  A.  B.,  Winchester,  Illinois. 

Dunbar,  Elizabeth  E.,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Regford  DeThompkins), 
Griggsville,  Illinois. 

Marshall,  Anne,  A.  B.,  Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin. 

Moore,  Helen,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Harry  T.  Scherer),  Apt.  323  East 
Twenty-second  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Tendick,  Elizabeth,  A.  B.,  Canton,  Illinois. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Balcke,  Ella  (Mrs.  R.  W.  Imel),  130  Chauncey  Avenue,  West 
Lafayette,  Indiana. 

Brucker,  Faye,  Monticello,  Indiana. 

Dahman,  Edith,  271  Sandusky  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Dickie,  Mary  Louise  (Mrs.  J.  C.  Moore),  Clearwater,  Florida. 

Freeman,  Frances  (Mrs.  DeWitt  T.  Hartwell),  Marion,  Illi- 
nois. 

Geitz,  Bessie  H.,  3203  a.  St.  Louis  Avenue,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Gernhart,  Lucile  Marie,  6030  Greenwood  Avenue,  Chicago, 
Illinois. 

Heist,  Anne,  Fayette,  Missouri. 

Ingalls,  Helen  (Mrs.  H.  M.  Buland),  1301  Twenty-third 
Street,  Parkersburg,  West  Virginia. 

Irle,  Ruth  (Mrs.  Sylverns  T.  Sager),  Chatfield,  Minnesota. 

181 


Kelly,  Clara,  20  South  Pacific  Street,  Cape  Girardeau,  Mis- 
souri. 

McLaird,  Goldie,  Chatfield,  Minnesota. 

Powell,  Jeanette,  Hockenhull  Building,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Rogerson,  Agnes,  327  Lockwood  Place,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Ross,  Josephine,  226  Pine  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Stoltz,  Mabel  (Mrs.  Bernard  C.  Mooney),  1820  Maple  Ave- 
nue, Bakersfield,  California. 

Taggart,  Florence,  209  Bronson  Street,  South  Bend,  Indiana. 

Taylor,  Ruth,  1040  West  College  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illi- 
nois. 

Tomlin,  Vera,  R.  R.  6,  Mechanicsburg,  Illinois. 

Vail,  Ruth,  Passavant  Hospital,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 


182 


Educated  Women — Educated,  But  Still  and 
Always  Women 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1913: 

The  college  tasks  are  all  over  and  done,  and  I 

come  at  the  close  for  a  few  words,  not  by  any  means 

new,  but  by  way  of  reminder. 

We  are  about  to  give  you  baccalaureate  honors 

— the  seal,   the   stamp   of  educated  womanhood. 

We  have  been  testing  you — assaying  you,  so  to 

speak;  and,   having  found  that  you  are  genuine 

metal,  we  are  now  stamping  you  and  issuing  you 

as  current  coin  of  the  college  commonwealth. 

First  of  all,  let  me  remind  you  that  the  college 

degree  is   not   the  most  important  thing.      It  is 

merely  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an  inward 

intellectual  and  spiritual  grace.    You  cannot  make 

a  gold  eagle  out  of  a  piece  of  lead  simply  by  gilding 

it  and  passing  it  through  the  mint.     It  remains 

true  for  all  time,  to  quote  and  adapt  Burns'  famous 

lines: 

"The  degree  is  but  the  college  stamp — 
The  Woman's  the  gowd  for  a'  that." 

College  honors  will  gradually  wear  off.    O  young 
women,  be  always,  and  everywhere,  and  in  every - 

r*3 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

thing  true,  genuine,  pure;  and,  being  true,  you  will 
then  ring  true  in  all  the  tests  that  life  may  bring. 

And  secondly,  let  me  remind  you  that  you  are 
educated  women — educated,  trained  to  see,  to 
know,  to  hear,  to  understand,  to  think,  to  plan,  to 
execute — educated,  but  still  and  always  women. 
Your  college  education  has  been  misguided  if  it 
has  not  made  you  more  ready,  more  willing,  better 
able  for  every  womanly  duty;  more  anxious  and 
more  capable  for  every  womanly  relation,  more 
nearly  approaching  in  all  its  noblest  elements  the 
ideal  of  a  perfect  womanhood. 

And  without  controversy,  for  there  is  altogether 
too  much  controversy  these  days,  let  us  keep  to 
the  old  and  sure  foundations,  and  never  forget 
what  some  of  these  noblest  elements  are.  It  is  the 
great  honor  of  a  woman  to  be  pure,  and  sweet,  and 
beautiful,  and  strangely  and  strongly  gentle  and 
patient.  And  wherever  else  a  woman  may  go  (and 
they  are  surely  foolish  who  would  close  any  gate- 
way to  her  when  she  wills  to  enter),  wherever  else 
she  may  go  or  be,  we  know  we  can  always  find  her 
at  the  center  and  source  of  all  human  interest  and 
good — the  family  home;  and  in  those  other  centers 
which  are  merely  enlarged  and  extended  homes — 
the  church,  the  school,  and  the  social  community. 

These  centers  of  all  the  most  potent  factors  in 
184 


BA(  '\  LAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

the  world's  redemption  and  uplift  are  unthinkable 
without  woman;  and  perfect  womanhood  is  equally 
unthinkable  outside  of,  or  apart  from,  these  centers. 
The  old  question,  "What  is  home  without  a 
mother?"  is  equally  pathetic  in  its  converse, 
"What  is  a  mother  without  a  home?  "  Let  the  men 
do  their  own  work.  Do  not  seek  to  enter  into  com- 
petition with  them  along  their  own  lines.  There 
is  enough  for  all  to  do.  Let  the  men  make  the 
living.  You  can  do  that  if  you  need  to,  but  yours 
is  the  greater  honor  and  the  greater  service.  It 
is  yours  to  make  all  life  greatly  worth  while. 

It  is  yours  to  make  the  home  a  holy  and  happy 
place,  the  birthplace  of  noble  life;  it  is  yours  to 
have  charge  of  the  training  of  the  children  in  the 
homes  and  in  the  schools,  inspiring  them  to  highest 
ideals,  and  insuring  a  strong  and  pure  manhood 
and  womanhood  in  the  coming  generations;  it  is 
yours  to  make  the  church  home  the  center  of  all 
that  is  most  beautiful  and  elevating  in  the  spiritual 
life,  both  of  the  individual  and  the  community; 
and  it  is  yours  in  every  social  community  to  put 
away  the  evil  and  the  sin  and  the  ugliness,  and  to 
make  that  "city  beautiful,"  for  which  we  have  all 
been  so  long  praying. 

Carry,  then,  your  educated  ability,  your  ed- 
ucated purity,  your  educated  sweetness,  your  ed- 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

ucated  beauty,  and  gentleness,  and  patience — in 
short,  your  educated  womanliness — carry  this  into 
every  home,  and  church,  and  school,  and  com- 
munity; making  the  dark  places  bright,  and  the 
sad  homes  happy,  and  foul  places  clean;  filling  the 
world  with  healthy  children,  and  making  their 
childhood  happy;  teaching  men  to  be  patient  and 
to  love,  and  sustaining  them  in  their  tasks;  making 
all  of  life  worth  while — O  young  women,  what  a 
noble  and  holy  privilege  is  educated,  consecrated 
womanhood ! 

Bear  a  lily  in  thy  hand — 
Gates  of  brass  cannot  withstand 
One  touch  of  that  magic  wand. 

Bear  through  sorrow,  wrong,  and  truth. 
In  thy  heart  the  dew  of  youth, 
On  thy  lips  the  smile  of  truth. 

O  that  dew,  like  balm,  shall  steal 
Into  wounds  that  cannot  heal, 
Even  as  sleep  our  eyes  doth  seal; 

And  that  smile,  like  sunshine,  dart 
Into  many  a  sunless  heart; 
For  a  smile  of  God  thou  art. 


186 


1914 
Baccalaureate  Service 

CENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  31,    I914,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  James  C.  Baker,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  TRINITY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

URBANA,   ILL. 

Text — 1  Corinthians  3.  21.    "For  all  things  are 
yours." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
TUESDAY,  JUNE  2,    I914,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Dr.  Nathaniel  C.  Butler 

OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


Class  of  1914 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Clem,  Hallie,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Carlton  E.  Fortney),  Du  Quoin, 
Illinois. 

Elliott,  Erma  Lytle,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  L.  E.  Johnston),  Grace 
Simpson  Apt.,  Chillicothe,  Missouri. 

Irwin,  Letta,  A.  B.,  Tuscola,  Illinois. 

Peavoy,  Abigail  S.,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Bion  James  Reynolds),  Red 
Falls,  Minnesota. 

Geneva  Upp,  A.  B.,  Nashwauk,  Minnesota.  Summer:  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. 

Kelly,  Clara,  B.  S.,  20  South  Pacific  Street,  Cape  Girardeau, 
Missouri. 

Watson,  Mary  Clifford,  B.  S.  (Mrs.  Roy  Lawrence  Scott), 
Sauk  Center,  Minnesota. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Colton,  Edith  (Mrs.  William  Schofield),  Murrayville,  Illi- 
nois, R.  R.  1. 

Fenton,  Freda  Madeline,  Mt.  Vernon,  Missouri. 

Gillfillan,  Louise,  Watseka,  Illinois. 

Haller,  Florence  A.,  Michigan  City,  Indiana. 

Hamilton,  Hazel,  Beardstown,  Illinois. 

Harrison,  Helen  R.,  Carthage,  Missouri. 

Hartsuck,  Fern,  Albia,  Iowa. 

Heit,  Edith,  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana. 

Hopper,  Lena,  301  North  Diamond  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Hughes,  Alice  Louise,  Jewell,  Kansas. 

Husted,  Abbie  (Mrs.  Ralph  Wayne  Bear),  Monticello,  Illi- 
nois. 

Jones,  Helen  A.,  Marionville  College,  Marionville,  Missouri. 

189 


Mathis,  Alice,  121  Diamond  Court,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Obermeyer,  Dorothy  Dean,  214  North  Church  Street,  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. 

Olinger,  Lucile,  Franklin,  Illinois. 

Phillips,  Alice,  351  South  Diamond  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illi- 
nois. 

Schirz,  Barbara,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Seaman,  Mildred  (Mrs.  Edward  James  Wiley),  319  Weirick 
Apts.,  Sioux  City,  Iowa. 

Shastid,  Mary,  Pittsfield,  Illinois. 

Slaten,  Nina,  1520  South  Sixth  Street,  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Wells,  Annis,  Paw  Paw,  Illinois. 

Williams,  Elizabeth,  Marion,  Indiana. 


190 


The  Most  Helpful  College  Memories 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1914: 

For  many  years  college  has  had  a  large  place 
in  your  lives.  First,  there  were  college  anticipa- 
tions, more  or  less  doubtful  and  indefinite.  These 
anticipations  developed  into  actual  college  experi- 
ences, and  now  those  experiences  will  pass  into 
memories.  The  experiences  have  doubtless  been 
different  in  many  ways  from  the  anticipations;  but 
the  memories  will  in  the  long  run  quite  faithfully 
reproduce  the  actual  college  life.  May  the  mem- 
ories of  these  college  days  prove  for  all  of  you  an 
increasing  benediction  and  delight! 

Many  things  in  college  are  temporary,  transient, 
of  passing  importance  merely,  but  frequently  these 
temporary  things  attract  most  attention.  Some 
things  in  your  college  experiences  are  fundamental 
and  abiding,  and  sometimes  these  are  so  quiet  that 
they  are  little  realized  at  the  time.  There  are  col- 
lege women  who  confess,  with  regret,  that  only 
after  many  years  have  they  come  to  appreciate  the 
really  essential  and  most  helpful  influences  of  the 
college  life. 

I  have  the  privilege  of  speaking  the  last  per- 
191 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

sonal  message  that  the  college  will  give  you,  and  I 
wish  I  could  in  a  few  brief  words  set  in  clear  out- 
line the  most  important  factors  of  your  college 
experiences.  What  is  the  best  and  most  lasting 
benefit  that  your  college  days  have  brought? 

For  sixty-eight  years  the  college  has  been  re- 
ceiving and  investing  for  you.  Through  two  gen- 
erations many  friends  have  brought  their  gifts 
here,  and  have  generously  consecrated  them  for 
your  advantage.  College  buildings,  the  best  that 
they  could  put  up;  equipment,  the  best  that  they 
could  get;  courses  of  study,  planned  to  the  best  of 
their  ability  to  meet  your  needs;  teachers  with  the 
best  experience  and  preparation  that  the  college 
could  command ;  laboratories  and  library,  books  and 
apparatus,  literature  and  science,  music  and  art — 
all  these,  accumulated  for  many  years,  have  been 
at  your  service,  making  your  college  days  rich  in 
opportunity  for  development  into  a  better  and 
more  capable  womanhood. 

In  your  memories  of  college  days,  these  things 
will  occupy  a  large  place.  The  class-rooms,  the 
recitations,  the  laboratories,  the  experiments  and 
lectures,  the  library,  the  chapel,  the  society  halls — 
these  were  daily  experiences,  with  their  exacting 
demands  for  time  and  attention,  and  their  constant 
insistence  on   high   standards  and   faithful  work. 

192 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Your  presence  here  this  morning  proves  that  you 
have  been  faithful  to  these  demands,  and  have 
met  these  standards  in  a  satisfactory  way. 

But  these  are  not  the  real  college,  after  all,  nor 
will  these  remain  as  your  most  permanent  college 
memories.  These  are  only  the  material  body  of 
the  college,  the  tools  and  instruments  with  which 
its  work  is  done.  In  these,  and  behind  and  beyond 
these,  there  has  been,  there  must  be,  life  and  per- 
sonality, to  animate  and  vivify  your  college  ex- 
periences, and  make  them  really  worth  while.  If 
the  Woman's  College  has  permanently  helped  you, 
it  will  be  because  here  your  life  has  been  touched 
by  other  life,  stronger,  and  richer,  and  purer,  and 
better  than  your  own;  and  by  this  actual  personal 
contact,  inspiration,  and  purpose,  and  strength 
have  come  to  you.  Only  personality  can  affect 
personality. 

We  must  have  college  buildings,  and  better 
equipped  laboratories,  and  a  larger  library,  and 
teachers  who  are  thoroughly  furnished  for  the 
most  helpful  instruction,  and  we  are  praying  and 
watching  for  friends  to  make  all  this  an  early 
realization :  but  we  do  not  forget  that  all  these  can 
never  make  a  real  Woman's  College.  All  this 
equipment  may  make  scholars,  but  we  are  making 
women   first — women  who  are  also  scholars;  and 

i93 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

our  greatest  concern  for  you  in  all  your  college 
years  has  been  that  you  should  here  find  not  only 
equipment,  but  a  human  personality,  and  an  en- 
vironment of  character  that  would  make  your  life 
grow  into  its  highest  possibilities. 

Through  all  its  years  this  has  been  the  glory 
of  the  college.  The  young  women  who  have  come 
here  have  found  personal  inspiration  and  helpful 
lives.  They  have  had  the  privilege  of  personal 
contact  with  men  and  women  whose  lives  have 
been  devoted,  true,  and  pure;  and  by  this  contact 
their  lives  have  been  permanently  enriched  and 
ennobled. 

Our  most  conscious  concern  for  you  through 
all  your  college  days  has  been  this  very  thing.  We 
hope  that  your  most  permanent  benefit  and  your 
most  lasting  college  memory  will  be  that  here  you 
saw  a  vision  of  a  larger,  purer,  nobler  life,  and  that 
here  you  received  inspiration  and  strength  to 
make  this  vision  real.  For  your  sakes  we  have 
sanctified  ourselves  that  you  might  also  be  sancti- 
fied for  others. 

But  my  greatest  satisfaction  this  morning,  as 
I  think  of  what  will  be  your  most  helpful  and 
blessed  college  memory,  is  this:  I  know  that  here 
at  the  Woman's  College  you  have  come  to  know 
Him  who  is  the  greatest  Personality  in  the  world. 

194 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

This  has  been  his  college  through  all  the  years, 
and  we  have  been  only  his  representatives.  From 
the  first  day  you  came  you  have  been  pointed  to 
him.  You  have  heard  and  seen  how  every  day  we 
have  recognized  him  as  "Lord  and  Master  of  us 
all."  You  have  known  our  unvarying  testimony 
that  whatever  there  has  been  in  any  of  us  that  has 
been  "true,  and  honest,  and  just,  and  pure"  has 
been  not  of  ourselves,  but  his  life  reflected  in  us. 

The  greatest  day  in  our  life,  as  in  that  of  Paul, 
and  of  every  other  man  or  woman  whose  life  has 
been  worth  while,  was  when  Jesus  Christ  "took 
hold  of  us."  And  I  have  watched  with  keenest 
joy  the  evidence  that  he  has  also  taken  hold  of 
you  while  you  have  been  students  here.  He  has 
already  begun  a  good  work  in  you  of  developing  a 
nobler,  purer  womanhood;  and  of  making  you 
anxious  to  serve,  wherever  and  however  he  may 
show  you.  Our  influence  and  personality,  as  it 
affects  you,  must  now  grow  less  as  the  years  go  by. 
But  he  goes  with  you,  and  his  life  will  increase  in 
you. 

Let  him  keep  hold  of  you  through  all  the  com- 
ing years;  and  then  we  shall  be  certain  that  your 
memories  of  college  days  will  grow  sweeter  and 
sweeter,  and  we  shall  always  thank  God  that  he 
brought  us  together  in  these  dear  old  college  halls. 

i95 


1915 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,   MAY  30,   I915,   10. 45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Thomas  Ewing,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  FIRST  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SPRINGFIELD,   ILL. 

Text — 1  Corinthians  3.  11.  "For  other  foun- 
dation can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
TUESDAY,  JUNE   I,   1915,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  C.  B.  Spencer,  D.D. 

EDITOR   OF   CENTRAL   CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE,    KANSAS  CITY,    MO. 


Class  of  1 9 15 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Berryman,  Audrey  G.,  A.  B.,  R.  R.  5,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Crum,  Irene  Dorothy,  A.  B.,  High  School,  Ogden,  Utah. 
Dinsmore,  Helen  Priscilla,  A.  B.,  303  West  College  Avenue, 

Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Harries,    Emily    Louise,    A.    B.,    1308    Richmond    Avenue, 

Mattoon,  Illinois. 
Hess,  Feril,  A.  B.,  High  School,  Ogden,  Utah. 
Munson,  Helena,  A.  B.,  Rushville,  Illinois. 
Powell,   Mary  Louise,  A.    B.,  281    North  Sandusky  Street, 

Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Reinbach,  Lucille,  A.  B.,  Wyanett,  Illinois. 
Burmeister,  Winifred,  B.  S.,  Redwood  Falls,  Minnesota. 
Ross,  Josephine,  B.  S.,  226  North  Pine,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Theobald,  Effie  M.,  B.  S.,  214  Bissell  Street,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Berryman,  I  ma  Carmen  (Mrs.  David  O.  Kime),  Newman, 

Illinois. 
Birch,  Margaret  Alice,  Griggsville,  Illinois. 
Brown,  Marjorie,  Kewanee,  Illinois. 
Cannon,  Iva  Mae,  Greenville,  Illinois. 
Cox,  Wylma  Percy,  DeWitt,  Iowa. 
Godlove,  Dulcie  Farron,  Idaville,  Indiana. 
Harper,  Ruth,  Delphi,  Indiana. 

Heller,  Grace  (Mrs.  V.  S.  Mullen),  Columbia  City,  Indiana. 
Hughes,  Corinne,  Waverly,  Illinois. 
Mills,  Celesta  Irene,  North  Vernon,  Indiana. 
Moss,  Margaret,  Centerville,  Iowa. 
Newlin,  Marion,  Robinson,  Illinois. 

199 


Robison,  Winifred  Eleanor  (Mrs.  Robert  Strawn),  Timewell, 

Illinois. 
Royse,   Lucy   Ellen,    1336  Lafayette  Avenue,   Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Schroll,    Mrs.    Catherine    C,    31 15    Chippewa   Avenue,    St. 

Louis,  Missouri. 
Slaughter,  Elizabeth  J.,  221  East  College  Street,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Stevens,  Dorothy  Abigail,  Rock  Island,  Illinois. 


Faithful  Stewards  of  the  Manifold  Grace  of 

God 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1915: 

For  twenty-two  years  I  have  called  the  grad- 
uating class  of  the  college  in  this  way,  and  have 
tried  in  few  words  to  express  to  them  some  vital 
truth  which  they  might  remember  as  a  parting, 
personal,  college  message. 

Your  college  days  have  been  happy  days,  but 
it  should  not  be  true  that  they  will  be  your  happiest. 
The  coming  days,  filled  as  they  ought  to  be  with 
life's  responsibilities,  should  be  also  increasingly 
happy;  and  not  the  least  factor  in  that  happiness 
will  be  the  memory  of  these  college  days  with  their 
splendid  opportunities  and  their  wealth  of  helpful 
friendships  and  associations. 

Let  me  begin  my  final  word  by  again  reminding 
you  how  much  has  been  given  to  you.  Good 
measure,  pressed  down,  heaped  up,  and  running 
over,  has  been  your  share.    You  are  great  debtors. 

A  country,  the  freest,  the  noblest,  the  worthiest 
that  the  sun  shines  upon,  is  yours;  its  institutions, 
founded  at  the  cost  of  life  and  devotion  impossible 
to  measure,  are  yours.     Yours  has  been  and  still 

201 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

is  the  love  and  sacrifice  of  father  and  mother,  who 
have  lived  for  you  through  all  the  years.  Your 
home  communities  have  contributed  freely  and  gen- 
erously for  your  earlier  education.  The  founders 
of  the  college  planned  and  labored  and  sacrificed 
for  you  that  still  greater  opportunities  might  be 
yours  than  those  afforded  by  the  public  schools. 

Only  a  comparatively  few  young  women  have 
the  advantages  of  sixteen  years  of  school  and 
college  instruction  and  training  which  you  have 
had.  Teachers  and  school  officers  in  all  these 
years  have  given  themselves  to  you  in  faithful 
service.  All  the  permanent  treasures  of  the  past 
are  yours.  You  have  youth  and  strength  and 
hope  and  friends.  You  have  God-given  abilities 
and  trained  minds.  You  have  not  bought  these 
things;  they  cannot  be  bought;  not  gotten  with 
gold — they  have  been  given  to  you.  They  repre- 
sent "the  manifold  grace  of  God."  "Freely  ye 
have  received." 

In  view  of  all  this,  at  the  end  of  your  college 
course,  what  do  we  hope  for  you,  and  what  do  we 
expect  of  you? 

One  thing  above  all  others — that  you  will  be 
faithful  stewards  of  the  manifold  gifts  which  God 
has  so  bountifully  bestowed  on  you.  The  grace  I 
am  .urging  upon  you  is  faithfulness.     Paul  says: 

202 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

"It  is  required  in  a  steward  that  a  man  be  found 
faithful."  Be  faithful  to  the  love  of  parents  which 
has  followed  you  with  such  solicitude  all  these 
days.  Be  faithful  to  the  interest  and  devotion  of 
teachers  who  have  given  themselves  in  patience 
for  your  development.  Be  faithful  to  the  college 
which  has  watched  over  you  through  these  years, 
guiding  you  out  of  girlhood  into  womanhood,  mak- 
ing you  strong  for  life's  service,  and  inspiring  and 
encouraging  to  the  loftiest  ideals  of  womanliness. 
Be  faithful  to  the  institutions  and  ideals  of  your 
country.  Be  faithful  to  the  manifold  grace  of  God. 
I  have  said  that  I  hope  you  will  be  happy  in  the 
coming  days,  happier  even  than  you  have  yet  been. 
But  this  is  not  at  all  certain,  nor  is  it  indispensable. 

"Not  enjoyment  and  not  sorrow, 
Is  our  destined  end  or  way." 

It  pleased  God  to  make  even  the  Captain  of 
our  salvation  perfect  through  suffering,  and  you 
may  be  called  to  travel  a  rough  and  thorny  road. 
Your  skies  may  be  clouded,  your  experiences  may 
be  sad  and  disappointing.  That  is  not  yours  to 
determine.  Yours  is  only  to  be  faithful,  to  be 
loyal,  to  be  true. 

As  we  say  good-by  to  you  as  you  leave  the 
college  halls,  we  all  hope  your  lives  will  be  suc- 

203 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

cessful.  You  have  lofty  ideals  and  noble  purposes 
and  high  hopes  and  plans  for  the  coming  days. 
We  sincerely  hope  these  plans  will  reach  a  suc- 
cessful realization.  But  even  this  is  not  all  yours 
to  say,  nor  is  it  finally  necessary  or  indispensable. 
The  heroes  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews 
were  none  of  them  wholly  successful.  They  died 
before  realizing  their  ideals  and  ambitions.  It  is 
not  necessary  that  you  succeed,  but  it  is  necessary 
that  you  should  be  faithful. 

"Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,"  and  then, 
whether  your  life  has  been  happy  or  sad,  a  success 
or  a  failure,  whether  you  have  served  in  the  front 
rank,  or  in  some  obscure  corner,  or  whether  indeed 
you  have  had  "only  to  stand  and  wait" — "be  thou 
faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown 
of  life." 

It  will  not  matter  so  much  in  the  final  account- 
ing whether  you  have  gained  ten  pounds,  or  five 
pounds,  or  one  pound,  if  only  your  Lord  can  say, 
"Well  done,  good  servant,  thou  has  been  faithful." 
It  is  faithfulness,  not  happiness;  faithfulness,  not 
success;  faithfulness,  not  even  in  some  great  thing, 
but  faithfulness  to  whatever  grace  is  given  you, 
that  will  open  the  door  for  you  into  the  joy  of 
your  Lord. 

You  will  recall  that  often,  as  we  have  sung  for 
204 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

our  evening  prayer  that  beautiful  hymn,  "Just 
for  to-day,"  I  have  specially  called  your  attention 
to  the  last  line  of  the  second  stanza: 

"Let  me  be  faithful  to  thy  grace 
Just  for  today." 

Faithful  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God. 

Young  women,  this  is  a  great  hope  I  have,  but 
it  is  also  a  great  confidence.  You  will  not  disap- 
point us.  To  the  faithfulness  of  parents  and  homes, 
of  the  church  and  of  the  state,  of  your  friends  and 
of  your  teachers,  to  all  that  has  been  done  for  you 
and  given  to  you,  your  young  hearts  will  respond 
nobly  in  a  fit  loyalty.  To  this  Jesus  himself  calls 
you,  and  he  also  promises  power  to  all  who  follow 
him.  "Faithful  is  he  who  calleth  you,  and  he 
also  will  bring  it  to  pass." 

"O  that  each  from  your  Lord  may  receive  the  glad  word, 

Well  and  faithfully  done, 
Enter  into  my  joy,  and  sit  down  on  my  throne!" 


205 


K)i6 

Baccalaureate  Service 

(  ENTENARY  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

SUNDAY,  JUNE  4,    I916,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Jesse  S.  Dancey,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

AT  ENGLEWOOD,  CHICAGO,   ILL. 

Text — Luke  16.  19,  20.  "The  rich  man  and 
Lazarus."  Subject — "The  Social  Rela- 
tions of  Christianity." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  J,    I916,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Wilson  S.  Lewis,  D.D. 

OF  CHINA 

BISHOP  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Class  of  1 9 1 6 

(With    i  9  i  8    addresses) 

Allison,  Jennie  Mayme,  B.  S.,  6oo  Jordan  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Baldridge,  Mary,  A.  B.,  502  North  Pearl  Street,  Joplin,  Mis- 
souri. 

Bigger,  May,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  J.  Frank  Beasley),  Walnut  Ridge, 
Arkansas. 

Blackburn,  May  Lucile,  A.  B.,  637  East  Peru  Street,  Prince- 
ton, Illinois. 

Coultas,  Margaret  Frost,  A.  B.,  Winchester,  Illinois. 

Glaspie,  Ethel,  A.  B.,  Oxford,  Indiana. 

Goldsmith,    Margaret  Lola,  A.   B.,   723   Nineteenth  Street, 
N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Harmel,  Alma  T.,  A.  B.,  Pekin,  Illinois. 

Hughes,  Corinne  Sharp,  A.  B.,  Waverly,  Illinois. 

Kinnear,  Hazel  Belle,  B.  S.,  Rushville,  Illinois. 

McGhee,  Helen,  A.  B.,  Murrayville,  Illinois. 

Main,  Edna  Ruth,  A.  B.,  Albion,  Nebraska. 

Merrill,   Irene,   A.    B.,  West  College  Avenue,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Patton,  Ruth,  A.  B.,  Clarence,  Illinois. 

Ranson,  Rose  Estelle,  Mound  Avenue,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Rexroat,  Lucille,  A.  B.,  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Robb,  Edna  Mae,  A.  B.,  Hopkins,  Missouri. 

Stoltz,  Mabel,  B.  S.  (Mrs.  Bernard  C.  Mooney),  1820  Maple 
Avenue,  Bakersfield,  California. 

Taylor,  Ruth  Pallett,  B.  S.,  1040  West  College  Avenue,  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. 

Want,  Ruth,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Charles  Leslie  Stewart),  1002  South 
Busey  Street,  Urbana,  Illinois. 

Wendel,  Ola  Rachel,  A.  B.,  Newman,  Illinois. 

209 


Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Applebee,  Ruth  Mildred,  505  West  State  Street,  Jacksonville, 

Illinois. 
Herrman,  Pauline,  Tell  City,  Indiana. 
Jefferson,  Mary  Amelia,  Winchester,  Illinois. 
Kimbel,   Ermel   E.    (Mrs.   Floyd  J.   Heckel),    134   Prospect 

Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Larson,  Mabel,  706  South  Washington  Street,  Paxton,  Illinois. 
Lux,  Ola,  Wolcott,  Indiana. 
May,  Sarah  Anne,  Stevensville,  Indiana. 
Ost,  Helen  M.,  Hoopeston,  Illinois. 
Parrott,  Feme,  Winamac,  Indiana. 
Patterson,  Irma  L.,  Fowler,  Indiana. 

Pires,  Margaret,  569  Sandusky  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Sawyer,  Edith  F.  (Mrs.  Edward  Gray),  Benton,  Illinois. 
Shouse,  Alma  Coots,  Weston,  Missouri. 
Stice,  Kathleen,  Berlin,  Illinois. 
Violett,  Mary,  Beardstown,  Illinois. 


210 


Scholarship,  Efficiency,  Service 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1916: 

I  prize  very  highly  the  privilege  of  saying  the 
last  words  to  you  in  your  college  course,  and  yet 
I  believe  that  each  year  brings  to  me  a  deeper 
sense  of  the  responsibility  which  this  privilege  in- 
volves. The  last  words  are  likely  to  be  the  words 
most  frequently  and  longest  remembered:  They 
should  therefore  be  most  carefully  chosen,  and 
should  express  our  deepest  convictions  and  our 
highest  aspirations. 

In  the  choice  of  what  I  shall  say  to  you  this 
morning,  I  have  asked  myself  this  question:  If 
these  young  women  should  ask  you  to  tell  them  in 
a  few  brief  sentences  your  chief  concern  for  them, 
and  your  highest  hopes  for  their  life  and  conduct 
in  the  days  to  come,  what  would  you  say? 

I  would  admit  that  deep  in  my  heart  I  some- 
times fear  that,  in  the  stress  of  college  life,  in  the 
many  courses  of  study,  the  urgency  of  high  scholar- 
ship, the  increasing  organizations,  the  exacting 
demands  of  multiplying  duties,  we  may  seem  to 
put  the  main  emphasis  on  things  that  are  not, 
after  all,  of  the  supremest  importance.     We  mag- 


211 


,     BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

nify  scholarship.  We  insist,  and  rightly,  too,  on 
knowing  that  your  elementary  education,  and  your 
work  in  the  grades  has  been  faithfully  done.  We 
examine  with  care  the  work  of  your  high  school  or 
academy  course,  and  demand  evidence  of  four 
years  of  faithful  work,  showing  unquestioned 
ability.  All  this  in  order  to  be  even  admitted  to 
college.  And  then  for  four  years  more,  we  magnify 
scholarship,  intellectual  ability,  urging  you  for- 
ward, beckoning  you  higher,  and  seeking  in  every 
way  to  enable  you  to  enter  with  appreciation  and 
enjoyment  into  every  department  of  human  in- 
terest. We  honor  high  scholarship,  and  we  magnify 
and  exalt  high  intellectual  attainments. 

And  yet,  speaking  to  you  my  sincerest  word  at 
the  end  of  your  college  course,  I  must  tell  you  that 
the  attainment  of  the  highest  scholarship  is  not 
our  highest  hope  for  you. 

The  college  has  constantly  emphasized  effi- 
ciency. We  have  sought  to  train  you  to  do  things; 
to  cultivate  energy,  a  ready  and  prompt  response 
to  duty.  We  have  tried  to  develop  that  rare  and 
high-priced  quality  which  we  call  initiative.  Every 
day  we  have  sought  to  discover  in  you,  and  to 
cause  to  grow,  whatever  we  could  find  of  vision, 
the  ability  to  see  what  needs  to  be  done;  and  of 
attack,  and  of  persistence,  and  of  leadership.    And 

212 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

it  is  a  great  satisfaction  for  us  to  know  how  well 
we  have  succeeded.  You  are  able  to  do  things,  to 
attack  problems,  ready  and  able  and  anxious,  as 
I  like  to  think,  to  do  any  womanly  thing  anywhere. 

And  yet,  when  I  come  as  I  do  here,  to  say  my 
last  word  to  you,  I  must  tell  you  also  that  initiative, 
and  ability,  and  efficiency  do  not  express  our  highest 
desire  for  you.  Scholarship,  literary  appreciation 
and  taste,  great  learning,  scientific  understanding, 
ability  to  think  clearly,  vision,  initiative,  energy, 
efficiency,  genius  for  leadership,  and  success  in 
doing  things — these  are  all  great  gifts,  and  greatly 
worth  all  the  time  and  cost  of  college  training. 
But  these  are  not,  and  must  not  be,  your  ultimate 
aim. 

No,  no.  You  may  speak  with  the  tongues  of 
men  and  of  angels,  you  may  understand  all  mys- 
teries and  all  knowledge,  you  may  lead  in  the 
greatest  reforms  of  history,  you  may  have  the 
ability  to  do  many  wonderful  works,  and  yet  you 
may  be  sounding  brass,  tinkling  cymbals;  it  may 
profit  you  nothing;  you  may  be — nothing. 

These  best  gifts  you  have  coveted  earnestly, 
and  secured.  But  you  know  it  is  no  new  word 
when  I  tell  you  that  beyond  all  "gifts"  is  that 
"love  divine"  which  fills  our  lives,  takes  possession 
of  them,  transforming  them,  and  which  makes  all 

213 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

gifts  and  graces  effective.  To  crown  your  scholar- 
ship and  your  increasing  efficiency,  you  will  bear 
me  witness  that  we  have  never  failed,  through  all 
your  college  course,  to  seek,  more  earnestly  than 
anything  else,  that  you  might  comprehend  with 
all  saints  the  length,  and  breadth,  and  height;  and 
that  you  might  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  far 
exceeds  all  knowledge  and  all  efficiency. 

This  is  God's  greatest  gift.  And  this  is  our 
highest  hope,  that  your  educated  faculties  and 
your  trained  abilities  may  be  vitalized  and  con- 
trolled by  that  love  of  which  Christ  is  not  only  the 
supreme  illustration,  but  the  source;  that  love 
which  "seeketh  not  her  own,"  and  which  "  never 
faileth." 

Just  one  word  more.  How  can  you  express  this 
love?  Only  by  sacrifice  of  self.  Take  the  alabaster 
box  of  precious  ointment,  your  educated  woman- 
hood and  your  trained  abilities,  and  break  it  in 
utter  abandon  of  self,  in  absolute  forgetfulness  of 
self-interest,  so  that  its  blessed  fragrance  may  fill 
all  the  house  or  all  the  community  wherever  you 
may  be.  We  send  you  now  from  the  college  back 
into  the  home,  and  into  your  social  circle,  your 
church,  and  your  community.  They  are  wonder- 
ing what  college  has  done  for  you.  Make  them 
understand  that  it  is  greatly  worth  while  for  a 

214 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

woman  to  go  to  college,  not  only  in  that  it  makes 
her  a  scholar,  and  an  efficient  worker,  but  more 
because  it  enlarges  her  sympathies,  fills  her  with 
the  Christian  motive,  and  increases  her  ability 
and  willingness  to  serve.  Let  them  all  see  that  you 
have  come  back,  not  to  demand  what  you  can  get, 
but  only  to  ask  what  and  where  you  can  give. 

You  are  looking  anxiously  into  the  future.  I 
am  not  a  prophet,  and  cannot  tell  you  what  is  to 
be  your  future  lot  or  work.  But  I  can  tell  you  this 
on  the  highest  authority: 

"Those  that  will  be  great  among  you  will  be 
those  that  hold  themselves  as  servants;  and  the 
one  that  will  be  the  greatest  among  you  will  be 
the  bond  slave  of  everybody." 

Your  highest  success  will  always  be  in  closest 
imitation  of  Him  who  came  "not  to  be  served,  but 
to  serve,  and  to  sell  himself  for  the  redemption  of 
others." 


215 


1917 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  JUNE  3,   1917,    IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Merle  N.  English,  D.D. 

DECATUR,   ILL. 
DISTRICT  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  DECATUR  DISTRICT 

Text — Acts  26.   19.     "I  was  not  disobedient 
unto  the  heavenly  vision." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
TUESDAY,  JUNE  5,    I917,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Harris  Franklin  Rail,  Ph.  D. 

PROFESSOR   IN    GARRETT   BIBLICAL   INSTITUTE,    EVANSTON,    ILL 


Class  of  1917 

(With    1  9  1  8   addresses) 

Anderson,  Miriam,  A.  B.,  Springfield,  Minnesota. 

Benner,  Vera  M.,  A.  B.,  Abingdon,  Illinois. 

Brewer,  Martha  Elizabeth,  Carlinville,  Illinois. 

Floreth,  Anne  Loring,  A.  B.,  523  West  College  Avenue,  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. 

Harrison,  Mary  C,  A.  B.,  Columbia  City,  Indiana. 

Houck,  Hazel  Katherine,  A.  B.,  St.  Joseph,  Illinois. 

Houck,  Opal  Fern,  A.  B.,  St.  Joseph,  Illinois. 

Humberd,  Georgia,  A.  B.  (Mrs.  Henry  Kamp),  507  South 
Sixth  Street,  Champaign,  Illinois. 

Irwin,  Irene  lies,  B.  S.,  Tuscola,  Illinois. 

Miles,  Nancy  Grace,  B.  S.,  Virginia,  Illinois. 

Onken,  Johanna,  A.  B.,  Chapin,  Illinois. 

Patrick,  La  Vone,  A.  B.,  West  Ridge,  Illinois. 

Pawling,  Mabel  A.,  A.  B.,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 

Perbix,  Norma  Anna,  A.  B.,  Markham,  Illinois. 

Theobald,  Ora  Mary,  A.  B.,  214  Biddle  Street,  Jacksonville, 
Illinois. 

Throckmorton,  Esther  Florence,  B.  S.,  Battle  Ground,  In- 
diana. 

Wilkinson,  Phyllis,  A.  B.,  St.  Joseph,  Michigan. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 
Applebee,   Ruth  Mildred,  505  West  State  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 
Clark,  Lettie  Mae,  Rensselaer,  Indiana. 
Davis,  Veronica,  New  Holland,  Illinois. 
Falkenstein,  Kathlyn  M.,  Astoria,  Illinois. 
Henry,  Helen  (Mrs.  Wilson  Smith),  Waverly,  Illinois. 
Horner,  Helen  Louise,  Kewanee,  Illinois. 
Ingram,  Hazel,  Mt.  Sterling,  Illinois. 
McCloud,  Florence  Jane,  Williamsport,  Indiana. 
Sale,  Winifred,  Watseka,  Illinois. 

219 


Tke  Responsibilities  of  College  Women 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1917: 

These  are  stirring  times,  times  in  which  the 
souls  of  men  and  women  are  tested  as  by  fire. 
Great  principles  are  at  stake.  Personal  needs  are 
lost  sight  of  in  the  presence  of  great  national  needs, 
and  even  national  needs  are  giving  place  to  still 
greater  international  and  world  needs. 

God  is  marching  on.  His  purposes  are  ripen- 
ing fast — unfolding  every  hour.  The  visions  and 
dreams  of  prophets  and  reformers,  hitherto  appar- 
ently dreams  and  visions  only,  are  now  rapidly 
realized.  The  day  of  the  Lord  is  come.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand.  A  great  era  in  the 
world's  history  is  here. 

Especially  it  is  a  great  day  for  women.  We  can 
now  begin  to  understand  why  the  last  hundred 
years  have  been  years  of  woman's  awakening, 
years  of  preparation  and  training  for  larger  tasks 
than  ever  before.  Everywhere  for  women  the 
gates  of  opportunity,  of  privilege,  of  responsibility, 
of  power,  are  opening  wide.  Nobody  now  ques- 
tions, as  they  used  to  do,  either  the  right,  or  the 

22 1 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

possibility,  or  the  need  for  women  of  the  highest 
education  and  training  for  service.  In  the  home, 
in  the  local  community,  for  the  larger  service  of 
the  state  and  the  nation — nay,  even  national  lines 
are  fading;  and  the  cry  is  a  world-wide  cry — every- 
where there  is  world  need  for  strong,  and  ready, 
and  devoted  women. 

One  day  a  young  man  came  to  Jesus  with  the 
greatest  of  all  life  questions,  "How  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  He  went  away  sorrowful, 
for  he  had  great  possessions;  and  our  Lord  was 
moved  to  say,  "How  hardly  shall  those  who  have 
great  possessions  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
We  are  accustomed  to  make  the  application  only 
to  those  who  are  rich  in  material  wealth.  But  if 
our  Lord  were  speaking  to  you,  in  answer  to  the 
same  eager  question  in  your  hearts,  he  would  say, 
"How  hardly  shall  those  who  are  college  graduates 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  You,  too,  have 
great  possessions.  You,  too,  have  been  exalted  to 
an  eminence  of  privilege.  Our  Lord  never  con- 
demned great  possessions,  or  great  power,  or  priv- 
ilege, but  he  always  emphasized  its  great  peril  and 
great  responsibility. 

You  have  inherited  great  possessions.  For  a 
century  the  world  has  been  making  ready  for  you. 
By  struggles  and  sacrifices  such  as  you  can  never 

222 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

fully  know  barriers  have  been  broken  down,  preju- 
dices have  been  removed,  limitations  have  been 
forced  aside,  that  you  might  be  free.  Blessed  are 
your  eyes,  for  they  see,  and  your  ears,  for  they 
hear  the  things  that  your  grandmothers  only 
dreamed  about  and  prayed  for. 

For  more  than  seventy  years  the  college  has 
been  building  for  you.  For  you  has  been  con- 
tributed the  accumulated  service  and  savings  of 
hundreds  of  devoted  men  and  women.  For  you 
has  been  built  up,  year  after  year,  by  patience  and 
persistence,  a  college  plant  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars.  For  you,  through  these  years  of 
college  life,  we  have  all  given,  without  measure, 
the  best  service  we  could  render.  All  that  country, 
and  home,  and  school,  and  college  could  do;  all 
that  love,  and  foresight,  and  sacrifice  could  devise, 
have  been  poured  out  for  you,  that  you  might  be 
free,  and  that  you  might  be  ready. 

You  have  great  possessions  and  you  have  great 
opportunity.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 
Will  you  enter  it?  What  will  you  do  with  what 
you  have?  Will  you  use  it  for  yourself,  your  own 
ends,  your  own  pleasure,  your  own  ease,  your  own 
gain,  or  will  you  follow  him  who  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  with  him 
enter  the  Kingdom? 

223 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Has  it  been  worth  while,  at  such  cost,  and 
persistence,  and  patience,  to  build  these  colleges  for 
women?  The  college  can  justify  itself  only  by  its 
outcome  in  the  lives  of  its  graduates  and  students. 
Are  those  who  go  out  from  the  Illinois  Woman's 
College  better  women  because  they  have  been 
here?  Are  they  more  capable,  more  efficient?  Do 
they  become  better  teachers,  better  wives,  more 
intelligent  mothers?  Do  they  render  more  helpful 
service  in  their  communities,  in  society,  and  in  the 
church? 

If  the  Woman's  College  graduates  are  among 
the  best  teachers,  if  they  make  happy  and  honored 
homes,  if  they  prove  themselves  efficient  leaders 
in  their  communities,  most  helpful  in  their  churches, 
most  ready  and  capable  for  any  womanly  service, 
most  responsive  to  every  call  of  duty,  then  will 
the  college  be  its  own  ample  justification.  Its  halls 
will  be  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  best  type  of 
young  women,  and  it  will  not  lack  friends  who  will 
feel  it  a  high  privilege  to  invest  some  of  the  wealth 
of  which  God  has  made  them  stewards  in  its  more 
adequate  equipment  and  endowment. 

Our  joy  and  rejoicing  is  that  the  college  has 
thus  justified  itself  in  many  hundreds  of  its  daugh- 
ters.    Our  prayer  is  that  every  year  it  may  more 

224 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

fully  realize  these  high  purposes,  and  send  out  still 
more  women  who  shall  render  still  more  efficient 
service.  And  for  you,  beloved  class  of  1917,  our 
confident  expectation  and  hope  is  that,  both  for 
loyalty  to  your  alma  mater  and  for  faithful  and 
effective  service  wherever  you  may  be,  you  will 
lift  still  higher  the  banner  of  the  college.  Let  the 
college  itself,  in  gratitude  and  love,  have  your 
hearty  co-operation  and  your  constant  gifts.  She 
needs  you.  She  cannot  live  without  the  gifts  and 
affection  of  her  own  children.  Do  not  forget  her. 
If  she  can  thus  secure  the  affection  of  her  own 
daughters,  the  coming  Diamond  Jubilee  will  wit- 
ness the  million-dollar  mark  overpassed;  and 
every  year  she  would  be  equipped  for  still  larger 
service. 

See  to  it,  then,  that  in  every  relation  the  col- 
lege will  always  be  justified  in  you.  Prove  by 
your  enlarged  womanliness,  your  increased  faith- 
fulness and  efficiency,  that  the  college  has  been 
worth  while. 

For  the  college's  sake,  for  your  country's  sake, 
for  humanity's  sake,  for  your  own  sake,  we  expect 
you  not  only  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but 
to  have  "an  abundant  entrance." 

Especially  in  this  time  of  national  and  inter- 
225 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

national  emergency,  the  Illinois  Woman's  College 
expects  every  daughter  to  do  her  duty. 

"Not  once,  nor  twice,  in  our  fair  nation's  story, 
The  path  of  duty  was  the  way  to  glory. 
He  who,  ever  following  her  commands, 
On,  with  toil  of  head  and  heart  and  hands, 
Through  the  long  gorge  to  the  far  light  has  won 
His  path  upward,  and  prevailed — 
He  shall  find  the  topmost  crags  of  duty  scaled — 
Are  close  upon  those  shining  table-lands 
To  which  our  God  himself  is  moon  and  sun." 


226 


1918 
Baccalaureate  Service 

GRACE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SUNDAY,  JUNE  2,    I918,   IO.45  A.   M. 

Sermon  by  President  Harker 

Text — Philippians  3.   8.      "The  excellency  of 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord." 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES  IN  COLLEGE  CHAPEL 
WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  5,    I918,  9.3O  A.   M. 

Address  by  Rev.  Thomas  Nicholson,  D.D. 

BISHOP  OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Class  of  1918 

(With    1918   addresses) 

Armstrong,  Marceline,  A.  B.,  708  West  College  Avenue, 
Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Bruner,  Lois,  A.  B.,  1216  Twenty-second  Street,  Rock  Island, 
Illinois. 

Clearwater,  Lillian,  A.  B.,  427  East  College  Avenue,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Gerrick,  Olive,  B.  S.,  Goodland,  Indiana. 

Henerhoff,  Gladys,  A.  B.,  Ursa,  Illinois. 

Jones,  Lavina,  A.  B.,  Ida  Grove,  Iowa. 

Kline,  Ellen,  B.  S.,  LeRoy,  Illinois. 

Keplinger,  Vivian,  A.  B.,  326  East  Timber  Street,  Pontiac, 
Illinois. 

Madden,  Katherine,  A.  B.,  739  West  State  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Moore,  Laura  A.,  B.  S.,  R.  R.  1,  Otterbein,  Indiana. 

Pires,  Margaret,  B.  S.,  569  North  Sandusky  Street,  Jackson- 
ville, Illinois. 

Towle,  Marie,  A.  B.,  West  State  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Whitehead,  Lora,  A.  B.,  Easton,  Illinois. 

Diplomas  and  Certificates 

Reed,  Louise,  510  South  Guthrie  Street,  Tulsa,  Oklahoma. 
Pinkston,  Dorothy,  1202  South  Thirtieth  Street,  St.  Joseph, 

Missouri. 
Westphal,  Dorothy,  212  Bluff  Street,  Joliet,  Illinois. 
Engel,  Olive,  East  State  Street,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Sale,  Winifred,  Watseka,  Illinois. 

229 


Hillerby,  Edith,  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Molz,  Bernice,  Pana,  Illinois. 

Scrimger,  Margaret,  Hillsboro,  Illinois. 

Kensil,  Edith,  Shelbyville,  Illinois. 

Norris,  Helen,  524  Thorn  Place,  Marion,  Illinois. 

Pursell,  Helen,  212  South  Tremont  Street,  Kewanee,  Illinois. 

Janes,  Pauline,  R.  F.  D.,  Kewanee,  Illinois. 


230 


Baccalaureate    Sermon 

"The  Excellency  of  the  Knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus,  my  Lord." — Philippians  3.  8. 

The  apostle  here  calls  us  to  a  challenge  as  to 
the  comparative  value  or  excellency  of  certain 
kinds  of  knowledge.  Such  a  challenge  is  of  interest 
to  every  thoughtful  man  or  woman,  but  it  is  of 
especial  interest  to  those  who  live  in  college  halls, 
and  whose  particular  business  it  is  to  deal  with 
every  department  of  learning. 

A  college  is  a  place  where  the  most  accurate 
knowledge,  the  soundest  learning,  the  highest  cul- 
ture, the  noblest  companionships,  the  loftiest  ideals, 
the  most  compelling  inspirations,  and  the  purest 
religion  of  one  generation  are  transmitted  to  the 
choicest,  most  earnest,  and  most  capable  youth  of 
the  coming  generation.  Here,  having  separated 
ourselves,  we  seek  and  intermeddle  with  all  wisdom. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  the  supremest  importance 
that  we  give  diligent  heed  to  the  question,  "What 
knowledge  is  of  most  worth?" 

The  history  of  all  human  life  is  the  story  of 
increasing  and  advancing  knowledge.     Each  indi- 

231 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

vidual  life  is  an  unfolding  of  capabilities,  faculties, 
and  powers, 

"By  which  the  manikin  feels  his  way, 
Out  from  the  shores  of  the  great  unknown, 
Blind  and  groping  and  alone, 
Into  the  light  of  day." 

The  aim  and  ideal  of  every  system  of  education 
is  the  best  possible  preparation  of  the  youth  to 
understand  themselves  and  their  environment.  To 
make  the  youth  aware  of  himself,  his  powers,  his 
possibilities,  his  needs,  his  duties;  to  make  him 
understand  his  relations — to  himself,  to  God,  and 
to  all  his  fellows;  his  relations  to  all  his  environ- 
ment in  space  and  in  time,  not  to  the  present  only, 
but  also  to  the  past  and  the  future;  to  so  inform 
him  and  equip  him  that  he  will  know  what  to  do 
and  how  to  do  it;  to  train  him  so  that  he  will  be 
capable  for  doing;  and  to  inspire  him  with  an 
earnest  purpose  and  a  resolute  will  to  meet  every 
demand  and  every  obligation  vigorously  and  faith- 
fully— this  is  the  aim  and  ideal  of  all  the  schools, 
and  of  all  plans  for  the  education  of  youth. 

Every  kind  of  knowledge  that  will  contribute 
to  these  ends  is  excellent  and  necessary.  A  knowl- 
edge of  the  body  and  its  needs,  of  its  laws  of  growth 
and  development,  of  food,  of  exercise,  of  sleep  and 
rest;  knowledge  of  whatever  will  make  the  body 

232 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

strong  and  capable.  Knowledge  of  these  things, 
not  only  for  the  individual,  but  also  for  the  family, 
and  for  the  community  and  the  state,  so  that 
homes  may  be  happy  and  healthy;  communities 
clean,  and  comfortable,  and  sanitary,  and  beauti- 
ful; so  that  both  individually  and  collectively,  for 
the  citizen  and  the  community,  health  and  strength 
and  efficiency  may  be  secured  and  conserved. 

Similarly,  a  knowledge  of  the  mind  and  its 
needs,  of  its  laws  of  growth  and  development;  a 
knowledge  of  the  development  of  right  desires,  and 
emotions,  and  passions,  and  of  the  right  training  of 
the  will,  this  also  is  essential  and  excellent. 

A  knowledge  of  the  universe  outside  of  us,  of 
all  the  sciences;  of  the  earth,  with  its  minerals  and 
rocks,  its  mountains  and  valleys,  its  oceans  and 
rivers;  of  its  plants  and  flowers  and  fruits,  of  its 
birds  and  beasts  and  fish,  and  all  its  myriad  life;  of 
the  air  and  the  sky,  its  calm  and  storm,  its  wind  and 
rain;  of  the  infinite  hosts  of  the  heavens,  declaring 
God's  glory,  and  satisfying  the  soul's  desire  for 
beauty ;  of  the  marvelous  miracles  of  geology,  and  as- 
tronomy, and  chemistry,  and  physics,  and  botany, 
and  zoology.  The  infinite  reach  of  mathematics, 
with  its  useful  and  interesting  calculations  and 
applications;  of  history,  with  its  wonderful  stories 
of  the  development  of  men  and  nations;  of  all  the 

233 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

languages,  with  their  fascinating  methods  and 
possibilities  of  expression;  of  literature,  with  its 
limitless  treasures  of  the  best  thought  of  men  and 
women  in  all  ages  and  nations;  of  the  social  sci- 
ences, how  men  have  tried  to  solve  the  problems 
of  living  together;  of  philosophy,  how  men  have 
tried  to  solve  the  meaning  of  the  universe  and  to 
explain  life's  riddle;  of  religion,  how  man  has 
groped  after  God,  if,  haply,  he  might  find  ultimate 
satisfaction  in  a  knowledge  of  him.  And,  besides 
these,  the  inspiring  reaches  of  music  and  of  art, 
opening  the  ears  and  eyes  of  the  soul  to  all  the 
harmony  and  beauty  which  God  has  inwoven  into 
his  creation. 

All  these  departments  of  knowledge,  with  their 
rapidly-multiplying  divisions  and  complex  ramifi- 
cations are  the  natural  outcome  of  the  increasing 
study  of  man's  needs  and  of  his  environment. 
They  are  all  necessary  and  good.  To  make  these 
studies  possible,  schools  have  been  established  and 
colleges  founded. 

That  women  might  have  an  equal  opportunity 
with  men  in  the  investigation  and  knowledge  of 
every  department  of  human  learning,  the  Woman's 
College  was  founded  over  seventy  years  ago. 
Courage  and  sacrifice  beyond  what  we  usually 
think,  the  best  thought  and  work  of  hundreds  of 

234 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

men  and  women,  have  been  given  without  measure 
through  these  decades,  that  there  might  be  here 
adequate  laboratories,  and  libraries,  and  buildings, 
and  equipment,  so  that  young  women  might  secure 
in  good  measure  the  accumulated  knowledge  of 
the  race  in  preparation  for  their  own  more  efficient 
living. 

It  is  manifestly  impossible  now  for  any  one 
person  to  compass  the  entire  round  of  human 
knowledge.  The  range  is  too  great,  the  sum  of 
human  learning  has  reached  too  vast  an  aggregate. 
It  is  necessary  for  each  now  to  select  some  par- 
ticular department  of  which  to  make  himself  a 
special  student,  so  as  to  make  his  knowledge  and 
his  life-work  more  effective.  But  many  of  us  still 
think  that  it  is  both  possible  and  desirable  for  the 
youth  to  secure  a  good  general  knowledge  of  the 
entire  field  before  selecting  his  particular  field  of 
special  investigation.  This  we  like  to  believe  is 
the  peculiar  province  and  place  of  the  college  as 
distinguished  from  the  special  or  technical  school. 

We  take  youth  by  the  hand  and  lead  them  to 
the  top  of  a  hill,  from  which  they  may  see  all  the  fair 
and  inviting  fields  of  every  department  of  human 
learning.  We  give  them  some  little  conception  at 
least  of  the  great  wealth  of  treasure  and  enjoy- 
ment awaiting  any  diligent  explorer  of  any  one 

235 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 


of  these  fields.  The  ideal  I  have  always  before 
me  for  a  graduate  of  the  Illinois  Woman's  College 
is  a  woman  who  is  able  to  enter  with  appreciation 
into  any  of  the  great  departments  of  human  learn- 
ing, one  to  whom  nothing  that  is  human  is  foreign 
or  uninteresting;  one  who  is  ready,  and  capable, 
and  willing,  and  eager  to  render  any  womanly 
service  anywhere. 

The  colleges  stand  as  the  repositories  of  the 
most  accurate  knowledge,  the  soundest  learning, 
the  highest  culture  gathered  in  the  experience  of 
the  race.  To  the  colleges  come  the  choicest  youth 
of  the  coming  generation.  I  like  to  think  of  myself 
as  the  president  of  the  college,  taking  these  choice, 
and  earnest,  and  capable  young  women  by  the 
hand,  leading  them  to  the  top  of  some  hill,  where 
they  can  look  upon  the  many  fields  of  human 
learning,  and  inspiring  them  with  a  still  deeper 
desire  to  make  themselves  fit,  and  with  a  determina- 
tion to  explore  and  to  serve  in  some  one  at  least 
these  inviting  fields.  The  statue  that  I  most  ad- 
mire as  expressive  of  my  high  privilege  is  that  of 
the  teacher  standing  behind  the  young  student, 
pointing  her  forward,  and  urging  her  upward.  Her 
eyes  are  fixed  on  the  future  with  intelligent  appre- 
ciation of  its  possibilities,  the  whole  face  and  figure 
expressive  of  intense   longing  to  reach   the   ideal 

236 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

suggested,  and  of  unalterable  determination  both  to 
be  and  to  do.  There  can  be  no  higher  glory  for 
any  man  or  woman  than  thus  to  inspire  and  direct 
capable  youth. 

Into  the  college,  with  its  body  of  choice,  and 
earnest,  and  capable  young  people,  with  its  trained 
faculty  representing  every  department  of  human 
learning,  and  with  its  equipment  and  laboratories 
and  libraries  gathered  to  illustrate  every  science, 
and  to  make  them  interesting,  and  attractive,  and 
profitable,  comes  the  apostle  Paul.  He  insists  on 
being  heard  above  every  member  of  the  faculty, 
and  claims  preeminence  above  every  department, 
boldly  asserting  "The  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus,  his  Lord." 

He  does  not. mean  that  these  college  depart- 
ments are  not  useful,  or  that  they  are  not  necessary. 
I  do  not  understand  him  as  belittling  accurate 
knowledge,  and  sound  learning,  and  high  culture; 
indeed,  he  was  himself  a  most  outstanding  repre- 
sentative of  these  very  things.  But,  having  him- 
self secured  the  best  college  education  of  his  time, 
having  himself  sat  at  the  feet  of  one  of  the  world's 
best  teachers,  being  himself  an  illustration  of  the 
advantage  of  the  culture  and  efficiency  of  the  col- 
leges, he  asserts  that  there  is  a  knowledge  "better 
still  than  that  of  the  schools."     "Covet  earnestly," 

237 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

he  says,  "the  learning  and  the  training  of  the  col- 
leges and  universities;  by  all  means  equip  your- 
selves for  the  running  of  life's  race  with  the  best 
possible  outfit  for  knowledge  and  efficiency  from 
all  these  sources,  but  ...  I  show  unto  you  a 
more  excellent  knowledge  still — the  knowledge  of 
Christ  Jesus,  my  Lord." 

As  we  have  said,  Paul  was  a  great  scholar,  a 
college  and  university  man.  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  address  the  council  of  the  world's  greatest 
scholars,  the  university  senate  of  his  time,  as  we 
might  call  it,  which  met  on  Mars  Hill  in  Athens. 
He  was  recognized  as  a  great  leader  among  his 
own  sect  in  Jerusalem.  But  from  the  day  that  he 
met  Jesus  Christ  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  he 
counted  it  his  highest  honor  to  sign  himself  in  all 
his  letters,  "the  bondslave  of  Jesus  Christ."  In 
the  chapter  from  which  the  text  is  taken  he  re- 
counts the  honors  and  recognitions  which  were  his 
by  birth,  and  nationality,  and  education,  and  priv- 
ilege, and  then  adds  that  he  counted  all  these 
things  as  pure  loss,  as  matters  of  no  account  what- 
ever, compared  with  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ,  "the  priceless  privilege  of  knowing 
Jesus  his  Lord." 

What  Paul  here  says  has  been  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  every  scholar  that  has  come  to  know 

238 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

Jesus  from  Paul's  time  to  the  present  day.  When 
Jesus  said  to  his  disciples  in  the  upper  room,  "Ye 
call  me  Master  and  Lord,  and  ye  do  well,  for  so  I 
am,"  he  was  not  talking  to  fishermen  and  un- 
learned men  alone.  He  was  speaking  as  well  to 
the  graduates  of  the  schools.  And,  what  is  more, 
his  claim  has  never  been  questioned.  If  it  has  ever 
happened,  as  has  occasionally  been  true,  that  some 
great  scholar  has  not  recognized  Christ  as  Lord,  it 
has  been  because  the  scholar  has  never  known 
Jesus. 

It  is  related  of  Charles  Lamb  that  on  one  occa- 
sion, in  company  with  other  literary  men,  they 
were  speaking  of  how  fine  it  would  be,  and  what 
they  would  do,  if  some  of  the  world's  great  scholars 
and  artists  and  leaders  should  suddenly  come  into 
the  room.  They  mentioned  Moses,  and  Homer, 
and  Virgil,  and  Dante,  and  Caesar,  and  Chaucer, 
and  Shakespeare,  and  others.  And  then  some  one 
mentioned  the  name  of  Jesus.  "O,"  said  Lamb, 
"that  would  be  different.  If  Shakespeare  should 
come  into  the  room,  we  would  all  stand,  but  if 
Jesus  Christ  should  come  into  the  room,  we  would 
all  kneel."  There  is  no  controversy  on  this  matter; 
the  unanimous  testimony  of  all  scholarship  is  to 
"the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord." 

239 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

This  is  not  a  new  lesson  I  am  endeavoring  to 
express.  You  will  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that 
from  the  first  day  you  entered  college  you  have 
been  pointed  to  Him.  I  have  often  said  that  I 
would  count  it  as  the  greatest  honor  possible  to 
me  if  it  can  be  written  as  my  epitaph,  as  it  was 
said  of  John  the  Baptist,  "And  his  disciples  heard 
him  speak,  and  they  followed  Jesus."  It  was  the 
first  lesson  we  tried  to  teach  you ;  it  has  been  many 
times  repeated  and  emphasized;  let  it  be  the  last 
word  you  hear  from  your  alma  mater — the  excel- 
lency, the  outstanding  preeminence  over  all  other 
kinds  of  knowledge,  "the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus,  my  Lord,"  "the  priceless 
privilege  of  knowing  him." 

Let  me  endeavor  in  a  few  minutes  to  make 
clear  just  what  Paul  means. 

First.  He  does  not  mean  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  historically. 

This  is  easy  to  learn.  No  figure  of  history  has 
had  greater  prominence  than  he.  Although  he 
never  wrote  a  line,  so  far  as  we  know,  except  once, 
when  he  is  said  to  have  written  a  brief  word  in 
the  sand  as  he  was  teaching  a  most  wonderful 
lesson,  there  have  been  more  books  written  about 
him  than  about  any  other  man.  We  know  some- 
thing of  his  birth,  his  parents,  his  home,  his  early 

240 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

life.  After  he  began  his  ministry,  we  know  where 
he  went,  what  he  did,  what  he  said,  how  he  lived, 
how  he  suffered,  how  he  died,  how  he  rose 
again,  and  the  remarkable  record  of  the  few  days 
after  his  resurrection.  But  the  knowledge  of 
Christ's  life  on  the  earth  is,  as  pure  biography,  no 
more  "excellent"  than  the  knowledge  of  the  life 
of  Moses,  or  of  David,  or  of  Peter,  or  of  Paul.  It 
is  possible  to  have  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Jesus 
historically,  and  yet  not  to  know  him.  Some  of 
the  books  on  the  life  of  Christ  have  themselves 
been  written  by  men  who  personally  had  never 
met  him.  A  historical  knowledge  of  Jesus  is  not 
the  "excellent"  knowledge  of  which  Paul  speaks. 

Second.  He  does  not  mean  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  doctrinally,  or  as  an  article  of  a  formal  creed. 

The  knowledge  of  the  second  paragraph  of  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  or  even  of  the  more  detailed  Creed 
of  Saint  Athanasius,  and  its  vigorous  acceptance 
and  promulgation,  even  at  the  point  of  the  sword 
in  doctrinal  zeal,  is  not  the  "excellent  knowledge" 
of  which  Paul  is  speaking.  All  the  many  doctrines 
and  beliefs  of  the  church  through  the  centuries, 
involving  questions  as  to  his  birth,  his  human  and 
divine  natures,  his  relation  to  the  Trinity  of  the 
God-head,  all  the  doctrines  involved  in  his  death, 
resurrection,  ascension,  his  present  place  in  heaven, 

241 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

the  time,  and  place,  and  manner  of  his  coming 
again;  all  the  controversies  which  have  divided 
the  church,  and  have  hindered  men  and  women 
from  knowing  him;  the  most  intimate  and  ex- 
haustive knowledge  of  all  these  questions  and  con- 
troversies, so  that  one  could  be  without  challenge 
the  most  learned  dean  of  the  most  learned  theo- 
logical faculty  in  the  world:  all  this  would  not  be 
any  more  "excellent  knowledge"  than  would  a 
similar  intimate  and  exhaustive  knowledge  of  any 
other  branch  of  human  learning,  or  of  historical 
or  philosophical  speculation. 

Third.  He  does  not  mean  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  obtained  from  reading  the  Bible  or  from 
any  theory  of  biblical  interpretation. 

I  do  not  want  to  be  misunderstood  here;  in- 
deed, I  am  speaking  plainly  for  the  very  purpose 
of  making  Paul's  meaning  unmistakably  clear. 
"The  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus, 
my  Lord,"  does  not  consist  in  any  theory  of  in- 
spiration of  the  Bible,  or  in  any  determination  of 
the  genuineness  or  authenticity  or  authorship  or 
purpose  of  any  of  the  books  of  the  Bible.  All 
knowledge  of  the  Bible,  of  its  history,  its  author- 
ship, its  dates,  its  literary  forms,  whether  historical, 
or  allegorical;  its  absolutely  correct  interpretation, 
whether,  as  the  eunuch  said  to  Philip  as  he  read 

242 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

from  the  roll  of  Isaiah,  the  prophet  was  speaking 
of  himself  or  of  some  other  man;  all  questions  of 
the  explanation  of  Bible  passages  as  looking  for- 
ward to  Christ  or  as  referring  only  to  matters  of 
current  and  contemporary  history;  questions  re- 
lating to  the  explanation  or  fulfillment  of  Bible 
prophecies:  none  of  these  come  within  the  scope 
of  Paul's  "excellence  of  knowledge."  These  are 
all  equally  questions  of  the  schools,  like  all  other 
matters  of  historical  and  literary  and  scientific  in- 
terest; important  and  necessary  problems  of  hu- 
man learning,  but  no  more  excellent  than  any 
other  questions  and  problems  arising  in  other  de- 
partments of  human  knowledge,  in  mathematics, 
or  science,  or  history,  or  literature,  or  philosophy, 
or  music,  or  art. 

Let  us  not  misunderstand  Paul,  and  let  us  not 
repeat  the  vital  mistake  of  the  Jews,  to  whom  our 
Lord  said:  "Ye  search  the  Scriptures,  because  ye 
think  that  in  them  ye  have  eternal  life.  And  yet 
ye  will  not  come  to  me."  It  has  happened  not 
once  nor  twice,  but  unhappily  in  multiplied  in- 
stances, that  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  of 
questions  of  Biblical  theory  and  interpretation  has 
been  the  very  means  of  preventing  that  "knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord"  which  Paul  insists 
is  "excellent." 

243 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

No,  no,  Paul  is  not  speaking  of  the  excellency 
of  the  knowledge  of  things  relating  to  Christ,  of 
problems  of  history,  or  biography,  or  literary  in- 
terpretation, or  doctrine,  or  creed,  or  sect,  or  sac- 
rament, or  name,  or  sign,  or  profession.  He  is 
speaking  of  the  "excellency  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  Jesus  my  Lord"  or,  as  a  still  clearer  transla- 
tion of  his  words  would  express  it,  he  is  speaking 
of  ' '  the  priceless  privilege  of  knowing  Christ  Jesus 
my  Lord."  He  is  speaking  not  of  a  literary  or 
theoretical  or  doctrinal  knowledge  about  Jesus,  but 
of  an  intimate,  vital,  personal  acquaintance  with 
him. 

Here  again  let  me  try  to  make  it  clear  by  some 
detail. 

First.     He  means  knowledge  of  a  living  Christ. 

As  long  as  Paul  thought  of  Christ  as  dead,  he 
was  not  greatly  interested.  He  could  not  call  a 
dead  man  his  "Lord."  He  vigorously  objected  to 
the  claims  of  Christ's  deluded  followers  as  blas- 
phemous, pursuing  them  to  strange  cities,  and 
reddening  his  hands  with  their  blood.  But  when 
the  living  Christ  met  Paul,  then  "trembling  and 
astonished"  he  knew  his  Lord.  Thomas  could  not 
worship  a  Christ  whom  he  believed  to  have  been 
buried  in  the  tomb,  but  when  the  living  Christ 
appeared  to  him,  with  unmistakable  evidences  of 

244 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

his  identity  and  personality,  then  indeed  even 
doubting  Thomas  must  cry  oat  in  absolute  sur- 
render, "My  Lord  and  my  God." 

Second.  He  means  knowledge  of  a  Personal 
Christ. 

Not  an  idea  which  had  taken  possession  of 
Paul.  Not  some  hidden  or  mysterious  power  or 
influence  under  whose  spell  Paul  had  come.  Paul 
had  met  a  real  person,  a  living,  thinking,  loving, 
acting  person,  one  with  whom  he  could  converse, 
who  knew  him,  and  whom  he  could  personally 
know,  as  he  had  known  his  teacher  Gamaliel,  or 
as  he  had  known  his  own  father  and  mother.  He 
had  met  one  who,  though  absent  most  of  the  time, 
could  be,  and  sometimes  was,  actually  present  with 
him;  one  with  whom  he  could  at  any  time  com- 
mune in  spirit.  He  had  met  one  who  was  his 
superior,  who  was  a  master  of  life;  one  who  had 
conquered  death,  one  who  had  brought  to  light 
"immortality  and  eternal  life." 

He  had  met  one  who  could  do  for  him  "exceed- 
ing abundantly  above  all  that  Paul  could  ask  or 
think."  He  had  met  one  who  could  not  only  con- 
trol him  and  direct  him,  so  that  Paul  was  willing 
to  submit  himself  without  reserve  to  Christ's 
guidance,  giving  up  his  own  will  for  Christ's  will, 
and  gladly  counting  himself  as  Christ's  slave;  but 

245 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

he  had  now  met  one  who  could  also  empower  him, 
making  him  able  to  do  all  things  that  Christ  di- 
rected. He  had  met  one  who  could  and  did  deliver 
him  from  the  "body  of  death"  that  had  hitherto 
held  him  captive,  one  who  had  given  him  the  vic- 
tory over  sin  and  condemnation  and  death.  Look- 
ing at  all  life's  problems,  he  had  met  one  of  whom 
he  could  say,  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and 
am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which 
I  have  committed  unto  him  against  that  day." 
"That  day"  was  Paul's  expression  for  the  day  of 
life's  supremest  testing,  whenever  and  wherever 
and  however  it  might  come. 

Third.  He  means,  to  know  Christ  as  a  Saviour 
from  sin. 

The  fact  of  sin  in  the  world,  nay,  the  fact  of 
sin  in  each  individual  life,  is  universally  recognized. 
In  every  soul  there  is  an  unspeakable  burden  of 
guilt,  a  knowledge  of  broken  law,  a  recognition  of 
deserved  penalty.  The  world-cry  is  a  cry  for  de- 
liverance. In  savage  as  well  as  in  civilized  states, 
the  human  heart  groans  and  travails,  everywhere 
crying  out  for  salvation  from  sin.  Before  the 
awful  consciousness  of  sin,  the  soul  is  utterly  help- 
less, and  the  more  earnestly  the  soul  desires  to  be 
pure,  the  greater  the  burden  of  shame  and  guilt 
becomes.     Man  cannot  save  himself.    Everywhere 

246 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

he  looked,  but  there  was  no  eye  to  pity,  no  arm 
to  save. 

Into  this  world  need,  this  universal  helplessness, 
Jesus  came.  His  coming  was  with  the  blessed  an- 
nouncement, "He  shall  save  his  people  from  their 
sins."  When  John  the  Baptist  revealed  Christ  to 
his  disciples,  it  was  with  the  words,  "Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world." 

Christ's  method  is  not  to  cover  up  sin,  but  to 
reveal  it,  to  forgive  it,  and  to  deliver  from  its 
power.  His  very  presence  always  made  people 
still  more  sin-conscious.  When  Peter  first  really 
recognized  Jesus,  he  also  first  utterly  abhorred  him- 
self, and  cried  out,  "Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a 
sinful  man,  O  Lord."  But  to  every  heart  stricken 
with  a  consciousness  of  sin,  and  sinking  under  the 
burden  of  guilt,  Jesus  speaks  the  wonderful  words, 
"Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee;  go  in  peace."  The 
Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins, 
and  there  is  no  longer  condemnation  to  them  that 
are  in  Christ  Jesus.  He  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most all  that  come  unto  God  by  him. 

Paul  knew  Jesus  as  a  Saviour  from  sin.  Al- 
though he  had  been  brought  up  under  the  strictest 
discipline  of  the  law,  and  had  lived  a  strictly  moral 
life,  he  was  no  exception  to  the  universal  fact,  he 

247 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

knew  himself  to  be  a  sinner.  In  one  of  his  letters 
he  tells  of  his  agony  of  soul,  and  of  his  bitter  strug- 
gles to  deliver  himself.  But  he  could  not  break 
the  shackles  of  sin,  and  in  agony  of  despair  he 
cries  out,  "Who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body 
of  death?"  And  one  day,  one  eventful  day,  he 
met  Jesus.  As  he  looked  on  Jesus  and  saw  his 
purity,  and  recognized  his  power,  he  loathed  his 
sinful  soul  all  the  more,  and  said,  "Lord,  if  thou 
wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean."  And  Jesus 
touched  the  sinful,  leprous  Paul,  and  said  with 
loving  sympathy  and  with  mighty  power,  "I  will; 
be  thou  clean." 

From  that  day  forward,  Paul  shouted  and  sang 
his  song  of  deliverance  and  thanksgiving:  "Thanks 
be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  was  not  a  theory;  he 
knew  he  was  saved  from  sin — saved  from  sin,  from 
the  guilt  of  sin,  from  the  condemnation  for  sin, 
from  the  power  of  sin.  And  he  knew  that  Jesus 
Christ  had  saved  him. 

As  he  did  for  Paul,  so  Jesus  has  proved  himself 
to  be  the  Power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  everyone 
that  has  accepted  him.  We  do  not  know  how  or 
why.  There  is  no  use  to  argue  about  it.  If  any 
desire  to  do  this,  let  them  do  so  as  an  academic 
question,  like  any  of  the  other  problems  of  the 

248 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

schools,  to  be  decided  according  to  the  best  evi- 
dence and  light.  But  do  not  let  the  discussion 
about  the  how  or  the  why  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin 
obscure  the  fact  that  the  soul  that  knows  Jesus 
also  knows  that  its  sins  are  forgiven,  and,  knowing, 
rejoices  in  the  liberty  and  peace  of  a  new-found 
child  of  God. 

Surely  this  is  a  knowledge  all  other  knowledge 
excelling,  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord 
as  my  personal  Saviour  from  sin.  And  this  Saviour 
is  a  world  Saviour,  my  Saviour,  your  Saviour,  "able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come." 

"He  breaks  the  power  of  canceled  sin, 
He  sets  the  prisoner  free, 
His  blood  can  make  the  foulest  clean, 
His  blood  avails  for  me." 

Fourth.  He  means,  to  know  Christ  as  his 
Lord. 

"The  excellence  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus,  my  Lord." 

Paul  had  arranged  his  own  life  plan.  First, 
he  would  be  thoroughly  educated.  So  he  had  all 
the  education  he  could  secure  in  his  own  home,  in 
the  local  synagogue  service,  and  in  his  home  town. 
Then  he  sought  out  the  most  noted  teacher  of  his 
nation,  and  came  to  Jerusalem  and  sat  for  years 
at  the  feet  of  the  great  Gamaliel.     This  was  his 

249 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

university,  reminding  us  of  President  Garfield's 
definition  of  a  university:  "An  earnest,  capable, 
enquiring  youth,  and  a  capable  and  inspiring 
teacher,  sitting  on  a  log  together."  Inspiration  and 
environment!  And  surely  Paul  had  both  with 
Gamaliel  and  Jerusalem.  And  after  he  had  thor- 
oughly prepared  himself,  then  he  would  take  his 
place  among  the  leaders  of  his  people.  What 
honors  might  not  be  his.  Already  at  the  stoning 
of  Stephen,  if  not  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  he 
was  present  and  actively  participating.  He  would 
be  a  ruler  of  the  Jews,  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
a  noted  rabbi,  a  man  of  great  influence  and  power. 
Into  this  young  life  of  great  power  and  promise 
Jesus  came.  And  at  once  Paul  recognized  one 
greater  than  himself,  a  master's  Master.  There 
was  no  long  battle,  there  was  immediate  and  un- 
conditional surrender.  "Who  art  thou,  Lord?'1 
and,  "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  And 
from  that  day  Paul  put  his  life,  his  plans,  his  am- 
bitions, his  whole  self  wholly  at  the  service  of 
Jesus.  He  counted  all  his  high  hopes  of  prefer- 
ment as  loss,  compared  with  the  priceless  privilege 
of  knowing  Jesus  as  his  Lord.  Each  morning  he 
asked  for  orders  for  the  day  from  Headquarters,  and 
each  evening  reported  to  his  Lord  what  he  had 
done.    Several  times  he  changed  his  plans  entirely 

250 


B  \CCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

at  Jesus'  suggestion.  And  so  through  life  in  labors 
more  abundant,  in  disappointment  and  defeat,  in 
sufferings  and  scourgings  and  imprisonments,  and 
finally  to  death,  he  followed  in  simple  obedience, 
happy,  as  he  expresses  is,  "with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory,"  so  he  could  be  the  "bondslave 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

This,  then,  is  what  Paul  means  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus,  my  Lord — a  vital,  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Jesus  Christ  as  a  living  per- 
sonality, as  his  Saviour,  a  recognition  of  him  as  his 
Lord,  a  loving  and  trusting  confidence  and  rest  in 
him,  and  an  absolute  surrender  to  him  as  the  guide 
and  controller  of  his  life. 

In  this  same  passage  in  Philippians,  a  few  verses 
further  on,  there  is  a  striking  phrase  which  illus- 
trates Paul's  relation  to  Christ.  He  is  still  speak- 
ing of  knowing  Christ,  and  he  says,  "Not  that  I 
have  already  attained,  or  yet  know  him  perfectly; 
but  I  follow  after,  if  by  any  means  I  may  yet 
find  out  in  all  its  meaning,  why  Jesus  Christ  took 
hold  of  me."     (Phil.  3.  12.) 

Surely  that  was  a  great  day  in  Paul's  life  when 
Jesus  Christ  took  hold  of  him.  It  was  Paul's  life- 
long wonder,  why  did  Jesus  choose  him?  It  was 
not  chiefly  from  any  motive  of  what  Paul  could  do 
for  Christ,  great  as  that  service  might  prove  to 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

be.  It  was  for  some  purpose  in  Paul's  life  and 
character,  something  that  Paul  was  not  able  to 
accomplish  for  himself. 

And  so  Paul  was  discovering.  He  had  found 
pardon  for  sin  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  freedom 
from  condemnation ;  he  had  found  in  him  the  peace 
of  God  which  far  surpassed  all  human  understand- 
ing and  knowledge;  he  had  found  a  faith  which 
made  him  more  than  conqueror  in  all  life's  battles; 
he  had  found  that  perfect  love  which  never  f aileth ; 
he  had  found  life,  abundant,  perfect,  eternal  life. 
Christ  had  become  to  him  all  and  in  all. 

And  yet,  much  as  Christ  had  already  accom- 
plished for  him,  Paul  still  felt  sure  that  he  had  not 
yet  attained  or  knew  Jesus  perfectly;  and  he  was 
earnestly  following  after,  sure  that  something  more 
was  to  be  revealed  in  him,  exceeding  abundantly 
above  all  that  he  could  think.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  Paul  felt  that  to  know  Jesus  Christ  was  a 
"priceless  privilege,"  and  that  the  knowledge  of 
Jesus  Christ  his  Lord  far  excelled  all  other  knowl- 
edge gained  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  or  in  any  other 
schools  of  life's  association  and  experience? 

The  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord  far 
excels  all  other  knowledge  of  life  or  of  human  ex- 
perience or  of  the  colleges  and  universities,  because 

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a  knowledge  of  him  solves  directly  and  personally 
all  life's  problems.  He  gives  a  knowledge  not  about 
life,  but  of  life.  Personal  acquaintance  with  him, 
acceptance  of  him  as  Lord,  gives  to  us  all,  as  it 
gave  to  Paul,  pardon  from  sin,  freedom  from  con- 
demnation, rest  in  life's  perplexities,  peace  in  sor- 
row, an  overcoming  faith  in  times  of  deepest 
doubts;  giving  us  the  victory,  power  to  become  the 
children  of  God,  power  to  become  all  that  he  reveals 
as  possible;  in  short,  he  does  not  teach  us  about 
life,  as  other  teachers  do:  he  gives  life,  and  gives 
it  more  abundantly. 

The  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord  is  not 
alone  more  excellent  for  the  individual  life,  but 
for  the  social  life,  the  life  of  the  community,  and 
the  life  of  the  nations.  If  all  had  the  knowledge 
of  him,  all  community  problems  would  be  solved. 
There  would  be  no  sin,  he  saves  from  sin;  there 
would  be  no  social  unrest,  no  exploiting  of  one 
class  by  another;  the  strong  would  help  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  the  weak;  each  would  live  for  all, 
and  all  for  each;  there  would  be  nothing  to  hurt 
or  destroy  in  all  the  community.  If  the  excellent 
knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord  was  universal, 
if  all  should  know  him,  from  the  least  to  the  great- 
est, then  the  "war  drum  would  throb  no  longer, 

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BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

and  the  battle  flags  would  be  furled;"  the  terror  of 
the  war  lord  would  be  replaced  by  the  blessed  and 
beneficent  reign  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Shall  we  not  devoutly  pray  and  earnestly  labor 
to  bring  in  the  glad  day  when  this  knowledge  of 
him,  far  excelling  all  other  forms  of  knowledge, 
shall  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  deep? 


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Christ  Jesus,   M$   Lord 

Young  Women  of  the  Class  of  1918: 

This  is  our  chiefest  yearning  and  anxiety  for 
you:  that  you  may  know  Him  in  an  intimate, 
vital,  personal  relationship  and  acquaintance.  All 
other  knowledge  is  changing  and  transient;  it  will 
vanish  away.  This  knowledge  is  abiding  and  per- 
manent. Other  forms  of  knowledge  relate  to 
problems  about  life,  to  know  Christ  is  life  itself. 

You  will  go  out  from  college  into  your  homes 
and  your  communities,  and  there,  by  your  knowl- 
edge and  skill  acquired  in  college,  we  trust  you  will 
gladden  and  brighten  every  corner,  making  the 
hearts  of  your  parents  and  friends  happy,  and  se- 
curing for  your  communities  a  more  sanitary,  help- 
ful, and  hopeful  environment.  But  remember  that 
you  will  do  more  for  your  homes  and  your  com- 
munities by  taking  Jesus  Christ  with  you,  repre- 
senting him,  carrying  his  Spirit,  illustrating  his 
life.  All  these  other  necessary  problems  will  solve 
themselves  if,  first,  there  is  a  personal,  vital,  saving 
knowledge  of  him. 

I  wish  to  add  my  personal  testimony  to  that 
of  Paul  as  to  the  outstanding  preeminence  over  all 

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BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESSES 

other  forms  of  knowledge  of  a  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  a  great  day  for 
me,  as  it  was  for  Paul,  when  Jesus  Christ  took  hold 
of  me.  I  can  consciously  connect  all  of  life's 
greatest  satisfactions,  all  of  life's  best  work,  to  that 
event.  I  do  not  yet  know  much  of  why  he  took 
hold  of  me;  I  know  I  have  not  been  altogether 
worthy.  But  he  has  made  me  a  better  man;  has 
touched  the  strings  of  my  life  to  sweeter  music. 
He  has  given  courage  where  else  I  would  have 
fainted;  he  has  caused  me  to  see  visions  of  duty 
and  of  privilege;  has  given  power  to  become  some- 
thing nearer  the  ideal  he  has  himself  inspired.  It 
has  been  indeed  a  most  priceless  privilege  to 
know  him. 

Let  him  also  "take  hold  of  you."  Let  him 
come  into  your  lives  as  your  Master  and  Lord. 
Ask  him  to  take  the  direction  of  your  lives.  Let 
him  purify  your  hearts.  Let  your  prayer  ever  be, 
"Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  Let  your 
lives  henceforth  be  not  yours,  but  Christ  living  in 
you.  Let  your  deepest  yearning  be  to  be  like  him. 
Set  his  spirit  and  life  before  you  as  your  ideal,  so 
that,  every  day,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  his  gracious 
character,  you  may  be  changed  from  one  degree  of 
likeness  to  another,  until  some  blessed  day,  you 
shall  be  like  him.     Then  will  you  carry  sweetness 

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and  light  and  beauty  and  strength  wherever  you 
go;  then  will  you  illustrate  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  your  Lord. 

"Christ  Jesus,  my  Lord."  This  is  the  final 
word.  O  that  you  may  all  join  me  in  it!  "The 
bondslave  of  Jesus  Christ."  Not  vainly  striving 
any  longer  to  direct  my  own  steps,  to  supply  my 
own  energy,  to  be  the  captain  of  my  own  boat.  No, 
no,  but  leaving  it  all  to  him,  trusting  in  him  for 
guidance,  for  power,  and  for  final  victory,  let  us 
take  him  into  the  ship.  Thank  God  for  the  price- 
less privilege  of  knowing  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord ! 

"My  bark  is  wafted  to  the  strand, 

By  breath  divine; 
And  on  its  helm  there  rests  a  hand, 
Other  than  mine. 

One  who  was  known  in  storms  to  sail, 

I  have  on  board; 
Above  the  roaring  of  the  gale, 

I  hear  my  Lord. 

Safe  to  the  land!     Safe  to  the  land! 

The  end  is  this; 
And  then  with  Him  go  hand  in  hand, 

Far  into  bliss." 


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